GHMC cranks up fogging ops to swat mosquito menace

Hyderabad: As part of public health measures, the GHMC intensified fogging operations across six divisions through portable fogging machines (PFMs) and vehicle-mounted fogging machines (VFMs). Targeting areas with the most mosquito menace, GHMC entomology department is undertaking large-scale anti-mosquito operations to mitigate vector-borne diseases.

According to the civic body, special measures are being taken to prevent mosquito-breeding. The field-level officers and other staff are educating the citizens about diseases caused by mosquitoes, and the preventive measures to be taken.

“The fogging operation was carried out in one division from each zone and covered 166 colonies through deployment of 59 PFMs and 12 VFMs. The operation saw active participation from corporators, Standing Committee members, and deputy commissioners of GHMC,” said a senior entomologist.

Recently, the entomology team used a special drone-based anti-larval operation over lakes to tackle the mosquito menace. The lake, a known mosquito-breeding spot, was sprayed with eco-friendly larvicides to reach inaccessible areas. The drones were used in Shah Hatim Lake, Balakpur Nala, Musi River and Katora Houz (Karwan constituency) where the lakes and water bodies are known for mosquito-breeding sites.

GHMC recently took up new digital feature ‘fogging on request’ in ‘My GHMC’ App to help the citizens in learning more about mosquito menace. Any citizen of Greater Hyderabad who is facing mosquito menace can login to my GHMC mobile app and request for fogging. This request will be received by an assistant entomologist and assign to the area a fogging worker. Once the request is attended it gets resolved by uploading a photo with geo location.