‘Mumbai needs one dry day a week’

An exhibition on ways to avoid mosquito breeding and prevent the spread of dengue and malaria was held by the BMCrsquos D ward along with Advance Locality Management ALM of Little Gibbs Roads 1 2 and 3 at The Cathedral and John Connon Infant School in Malabar Hill The emphasis was on teaching locals that the most innocuous or routine practices at home can inadvertently lead to mosquito breedingLearning about the diseases in a creative wayBMC staffers at the exhibition said that they wanted to tell Mumbaikars ldquoObserve one dry day every week This dry day is not the classic no liquor dry day We are here to tell the city to empty out all receptacles and containers even the smallest completely at least once a week as larvae have a sevenday life cycle Many people are unaware that larvae may be breeding in the houserdquoEyeopenerThe interesting part of the exhibition were the models and exhibits by the workers one of which was a disposable aluminium foil container ldquoMany of us use these at home Sometimes this is just lying around but if there is water inside it may be harmful Larvae need miniscule water to breedrdquo said an official also pointing to a little paper cup a coconut shellmdashitems we use at home and discard without a thoughtmdashwhich may hold water for a while and then become a danger zone facilitating disease The accent was not on paranoia but simple preventive measuresAlso Read Is someone lying about cityrsquos swine flu numbers in MumbaiThe civic authorities wanted to highlight that water collects not just in plant pots but other receptacles too There was also a model of a building with a water tank on the terrace They indicated how the tank should be shutThey also informed that malaria is caused by the Anopheles mosquito that bites at night while one is afflicted by dengue with the bite of the Aedes mosquito during the daySome of the exhibits on displayWorkers stated ldquoThere is a misconception that mosquitoes only breed in dirty water but they actually breed in clean water We see water collection and larvae breeding even in the popular bamboo Feng Shui plants that people keep on tables at homerdquoAccess deniedThere were also workers from the BMCrsquos Malaria Surveillance Department malaria inspectors and investigators health workers who stated that they do combing operations in slum areas when many malaria cases are detected ldquoHowever we often do not get access to highrises even if we want to investigate a sudden rise in cases We are stopped at the security gate itself and not even allowed to put an awareness poster on the building notice boardrdquo said an officialIndrani Malkani foundersecretary of ALM of Little Gibbs Roads 1 2 and 3 said ldquoMany upscale societies in the vicinity and elsewhere too do not seem to cooperate and allow the BMC staff to do their duty Several buildings have a manager who can tell a security guard to accompany the health worker to the houses concerned There is a tendency to tell the BMC that whatever the issue is we will get it treated privately Yet the bigger picture is that where there is a communicable disease it is the public authoritiesrsquo onus to see that it does not spread and that is why it is important that workers have accessrdquoExhibition officials said that they have these models and posters in their different ward offices where people can see them ldquoIf we have somebody who can take up organisation and arrangement like we did in conjunction with marsquoam Malkani we can take this to other residential hubs toordquo they finished