DCC sources said mosquito menace increases during February-April period but the mosquito control activities remained sluggish in the last few months.

Absence of regular spray of larvaecide in the last two months on mosquito breeding grounds in different areas has contributed to the increase of the mosquito population.

DCC still practises unplanned spraying of adulticides and larvaecides by its spray-men, which have been proven ineffective so far. Currently 411 spray men are working in 90 wards using 941 hand-spray machines. The number of Fogger machine is 297.

Field level employees told Star City that DCC does not provide vehicles for its ward-based employees that is affecting the pace of the work. There is also lacking in the field-level supervision of the anti-mosquito activities.

DCC entomologist Naseem-uj-Seraj said 'Delete 2.5 EC' is being sprayed at mosquito breeding grounds every morning from 8 to 11:00am to eliminated larvae. In the afternoon they are spraying Tepsi Liquid Spray to get rid of flying adults.

"We are trying our best. But we cannot keep adult mosquitoes in check," Seraj said admitting the fact that the medicine they are spraying is not working to wipe out the swarming mosquito population.

"When we spray the medicine they probably pass out for a while and later gain consciousness. So, the mosquito menace continues," added Seraj.

About the budget, Seraj said for the mosquito control programme DCC gets a total of Tk 16.5 crore, of which Tk 1.5 crore is for the purchase of insecticides and the rests for the purchase of machines, monitoring and surveillance.

Dhaka City Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka said that DCC is currently going through a fund shortage. "DCC did not receive two instalments of its regular allocation from the LGRD ministry", said Khoka.

Mosquito eradication programme is seriously hampered because of this fund shortage, he mentioned.

"Overhead cost had increased in the last few months but the budget did not."

DCC also lacks effective mechanism to identify areas with high mosquito infestation.

Routine and periodic surveillance needs to be carried out to know the mosquito growth and population density. Based on a count of mosquito eggs or larvae, experts usually locate the most infested area.

DCC did not carry out such surveillance since the year 2000.

Mayor Khoka mentioned that the Dhaka Wasa recently shut down the sluice gate of the Hatirjheel, the only water body left in Dhaka that is linked to the river systems to drain out excess water and to retain them during monsoon.

Hatirjheel, which covers DCC zones 4, 5 and 9, is currently inundated with sewerage water. "Huge reservoir of dirty stagnant water in the jheel has become a large breeding ground for mosquito. It is one of the main reasons why this season the mosquito population is so high," Mayor Khoka added.

Special measures have been taken to clean up the jheel. Mayor Khoka inaugurated the drive on March 4.

The residents of Mirpur, Pallabi, Kazipara, Shewrapara, Kalyanpur, Mohammadpur, Mogbazar, Tejgaon, Mugda, Basabo, Rampura, Kamalapur, Jatrabari, Shyampur, Gandaria, Shahjahanpur, Khilgaon, and the old part of Dhaka are suffering immensely because of severe mosquito infestation.

Hamidur Rahman, one of the resident of Kazipara said, "We haven't seen any activity from the city corporation in our locality in recent months. After sundown it becomes really impossible to endure the mosquito bites."

Anindita Adhikari, a resident of Jigatola, said: "Even during the daytime, I have to use a mosquito net when my two-year-old daughter takes a nap."

Md Asgar Ali from Jatrabari said, "Mosquitoes are biting even during daytime at the office. I am afraid of diseases they spread."