Recently the DCC has sent a Demand Order (DO) to the finance ministry, with a view to securing a fund for operating the anti-mosquito drives, a DCC official said.

Mosquito control was once a responsibility of the Department of Public Health.But later the DCC was assigned, without any additional monetary allocation, to do the job. Though the city's civic service provider requires Tk 50 crore every year to achieve success in anti-mosquito drive, it manages to spend Tk 12 crore in this regard, only to continue the drive in a pretty limited scale, DCC source said.

DCC does not tax the city dwellers for its mosquito eradication programmes, rather it depends on its own source of revenue, the source added.

Under the mosquito eradication plan 2003-2004, DCC has purchased one lakh and 50,000 litres of adulticide, 21,000 litres of larvicide, and 50,000 litres of Malaria Oil-B to carry out the drive throughout the year.

Besides, 1170 hand spray machines, 48 wheel-mounted sprayer machines, 340 fogger machines, 3 ULV (carried on vehicle) machines, and 15 portable ULV machines equip the DCC for going after the mosquitoes of the city.

Still cleanliness drives on ponds, canals, ditches, and jheels stand as a very important means of keeping the mosquito menace under control, a DCC source said.

The chief executive officer (CEO) of DCC said various public agencies like Rajuk, Dhaka WASA, Public Works Department, Bangladesh Railway, Roads and Highways, and many others often do not discharge the responsibility of cleaning the land, wetland, and residential areas on they own, contributing to the sufferings of the people.