Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Pest Control Department will spend a whopping Rs 91.77 lakh a year to private organizations for spraying pesticides in slum areas and under construction sites of Malad division to prevent diseases such as malaria and dengue. The proposal for this will be tabled in the standing Committee Meeting, which will be held on Friday.
Though pest control department conducts spraying of pest control chemicals in the areas where traces of mosquito breeding are found. Due to lack of workers in the pest control department, BMC outsources this work to private institutions. The minimum wages is Rs 580 per worker per day with the provision of other allowances at 46 per cent (exact amount not mentioned).
So, during the-12 month peirod, 70 volunteers will be paid a total of Rs 91.77 lakh. In Mumbai, about 2,500 buildings are currently under construction in various places in the city and its suburbs. There are slums near these construction sites where workers temporarily live. There are no proper sewage treatment facility in these slums. Also, stagnant water is the breeding spots of mosquitoes casuing dengue and malaria.
As a result, there are chances of mosquito breeding in these colonies. Therefore, BMC conducts fumigation drive of chemicals in order to get rid of mosquitoes. However, since the corporation does not have the adequate manpower, so it has to outsource the work to private organizations.
