The Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) will use state-of-the-art drones to search for Aedes larvae in the roof gardens of city houses and in stagnant water. From next Saturday (July 2), a 10-day combing operation will be carried out to find mosquitoes with drones.
Experimental activities to identify the source of mosquitoes through drones have started in Uttara Sector-4 area of the capital on Thursday (June 30).
At this time, DNCC Mayor Md. Atiqul Islam said, “It is difficult and time consuming to find the source of mosquitoes on the rooftops or balconies by entering every house in the city. So, sophisticated drones will be used to find out if there are Aedes larvae on the rooftop of any house. If found, action will be taken against the owner of that house.” The DNCC mayor said, “From July 2 to 11, we will conduct a combing operation to find the sources of mosquitoes through sophisticated drones in every house under Dhaka North.”
He said the city corporation would create a database of houses where mosquito larvae are found using images and data from drones, which will be used in mosquito eradication activities next year.
He called on the health department, hospitals in the capital and patients to provide accurate information about dengue.
Atiqul Islam said, “I will request the dengue victims to provide the correct address. We will not fine you. We will just go to that house and sprinkle mosquito repellent around. But if you give wrong information then we will not be able to carry out mosquito control activities properly.”
The DNCC mayor added, “We are using a type of tablet called novaliuron in the water meters of reservoirs and homes, which controls the birth of mosquitoes in the water for up to three months.”
After inspecting the mosquito source identification activities, the Mayor inspected the activities of Qista Mosquito Trap Machine set up at the initiative of Uttara Sector-4 Welfare Association.
It is a modern mosquito killing machine. The machine can catch both Aedes and Culex mosquitoes. The machine is effective up to 245 feet or 60 meters around. It is powered by an app called Qista, which lets you know how many mosquitoes have been caught instantly and can turn the machine on / off. It is completely noise free! As a pilot project, 6 machines have been set up in the Kalyan Samiti ground and park of Sector 4, Uttara.
Chief Health Officer of DNCC Brigadier General Jobaidur Rahman and others were present on the occasion.