Clean water tanks, BMC tells societies

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to hold housing societies accountable if their water tanks became a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

The BMC has issued notices to 31 housing societies for not cleaning their water tanks and allowing rainwater to accumulate on their campuses.

As malaria is spreading rapidly across the city, the BMC and the state government discovered that deadly mosquitoes were breeding mostly at the construction sites in the city. Therefore, the BMC issued notices to builders to carry out anti-malaria treatment at their sites.

According to a BMC official, only 37 of the 2,438 under-construction sites in the city have carried out anti-malaria treatment that includes fogging and appointing a pest control officer. Last week, the BMC had issued stop-work notices to six builders who had failed to comply with the civic body’s order.

Arun Bhamre, BMC’s pest control officer, said notices had been issued to 31 housing societies and fines had been collected from them. “In the beginning of July, the BMC had identified and instructed 560 housing societies to clean their water tanks,” Bhamre added.