BMC's rat killing mission: Mumbai civic body hunts for Pied Pipers; to give fees of Rs 23 against each rat killed

To keep several diseases like plague and leptospirosis at bay, the BMC periodically carries out rat killing mission. Facing shortage of night staff for the same, the BMC has now invited applications from registered NGO and manpower agencies for getting extra hands to cull rodents. Currently, the civic body has around 130 workers for the day shift and has 27 for the night shift. There is no target for the daytime workers, however, the night staff has a target of killing at least 30 rats every night. Notably, the outsourced manpower has to kill at least 100 rats each night.

"Several non-profit organisations have individuals who are in search of jobs. If they are ready to work, they can earn good money. So, we have appealed to the NGOs to participate (in the rat killing),” said the civic official.

Apart from the civic staffers, the BMC appoints private agencies for the odd job having a fees of Rs23 against each rat killed. From January to September, the civic insecticide department has killed 2.66 lakh rodents. Normally, rats are killed using toxic aluminium phosphide. According to the BMC data, the insecticide department has killed 976 rats per day till September this year, while 900 rats were killed per day last year. The dead rats are handed over to BMC van drivers who take them to the ward office for counting, after which they are sent to the laboratory.

To tackle rat menace, the BMC appealed to the citizens to keep the surroundings clean of scrap and leftover food.

Details:

Rats killed this year 2.66 lakh

Daytime staff strength 130

Nighttime staff strength 27

Target 30 rats each night

Target for outsourced manpower 100

Fees Rs 23 per rat