Residents of Keshavnagar and Kharadi in Pune were surprised to witness an unusual phenomenon—an occurrence dubbed a "mosquito tornado"—swirling over the Mutha river.
A video shared on X (formerly Twitter) shows a dense cloud of mosquitoes forming a swirling vortex near the riverbank, creating a surreal sight. While mosquito tornadoes are not uncommon in certain regions during specific seasons, they are a rare sight in urban areas like Pune.
Meanwhile, X users expressed concerns about the potential health implications of such a large congregation of mosquitoes, as they are carriers of diseases like malaria, dengue, and chikungunya, raising fears of a possible outbreak in the affected areas.
"It is an everyday menace in Keshavnagar. This is the most ignored area by @PMCPune," wrote one X user. "Horrifying. It's gonna spread in the entire city soon," commented another user.
Environmentalist Ameet Singh attributed the "mosquito tornado" to the River Front Development (RFD) project. "Recently, a video has surfaced of mosquito swarms around the river near Kharadi in Pune. This was inevitable. Yes, it is due to the RFD. We people who have studied ecosystem preserves for a long while have warned about this enough times. More mosquitoes breed in warmer temperatures and in contaminated water in which organisms such as fish, tadpoles, and frogs can’t eat them or their larvae to fulfil their role in the ecosystem. Similarly, snakes survive by eating frogs; the destruction of the riparian forest habitat is only going to ensure keystone species loss such as snakes and frogs and an increase of these swarms of pestilences."
