Mosquito Menace Persists in Sylhet Despite 40-Day Drive; Only 115 Workers Against 240 Needed

A 40-day special drive is under way in Sylhet city to control mosquitoes. Fogger machines spray insecticide in different wards every day, and mosquito larvae are being destroyed. Yet residents' suffering is not easing—after dusk, the mosquito menace is growing both indoors and outdoors.

Implementing the initiative across the Sylhet City Corporation's (SCC) 42 wards, the departments concerned are facing multiple problems. A shortage of required manpower, abandoned privately owned land, slow drain cleaning and citizens' lack of awareness have combined to make the situation complicated. As a result, even though the drive continues, mosquito breeding grounds cannot be fully brought under control.

In particular, vacant plots lying unused for years in many residential areas of the city have created a favourable environment for mosquito breeding. A large share of the owners of these plots live abroad, so there is no arrangement for regular maintenance. On the other hand, the city corporation does not have the manpower to run activities in all areas of the city at the same time.

Rajanarayan Chowdhury, a resident of the Ambarkhana area, said: 'After dusk it has become difficult even to sit at home. There is no escape from mosquitoes even with doors and windows closed. Lighting coils does not work either. The city corporation people spray medicine, but the menace does not decrease.'

Nurul Abedin, a resident of the Pathantula area, said: 'There are many empty plots lying around us. Somewhere there are bushes, somewhere water collects. These are not cleaned regularly. Mosquitoes cannot be reduced by spraying medicine on the roads alone. The places where mosquitoes breed must also be cleaned.'

On the matter, the SCC's chief waste management officer, Mohammad Eklim Abdin, said the owners of many vacant plots in Sylhet live abroad. As there is no responsible person to look after the land, running cleanliness activities becomes difficult. He said that when there is garbage on a plot, cleaners often find no one from the owner's side during drives. In such cases, when a legal notice is hung on the land, the owner or their representative makes contact. When citizens' suffering is high, the city corporation removes the garbage from such land on its own initiative. However, he does not see this as a permanent solution.

Alongside spraying medicine to destroy breeding grounds, keeping drains, sewers and canals clean is essential. But the SCC's chief health officer, Dr Md Zahidul Islam, has questioned the pace of the health and waste management departments in this work. He complains that while mosquito-killing activities can be run quickly, drain cleaning is progressing comparatively slowly.

Citing the area of his own home, Dr Zahidul Islam said that in Chalibandar of Ward 14, five workers spent six days cleaning a drain yet could not finish a 100-yard section. In contrast, spray workers take only 15 minutes to spray medicine or apply larvicide in that area. In his view, cleaning a canal may take a month, but medicine can be applied there in two days. So unless drain and canal cleaning speeds up, it will be difficult to retain the benefits of the mosquito control initiative.

The head of the waste management department, Mohammad Eklim Abdin, does not agree with this complaint. He claims drain cleaning is going on regularly. Because of citizens' lack of awareness, waste keeps accumulating in drains and canals, so cleanliness activities have to be run all year round.

The SCC needs at least 240 workers to run mosquito control activities in the city's 42 wards. But currently only about 115 are engaged in this work. As a result, it is not possible to run drives everywhere in the vast city area at once. Dr Md Zahidul Islam said that earlier there were 40 regular workers for searching Aedes mosquito larvae and mosquito control; later the number was raised to 115. Even then, the workforce is far below the requirement. 'Despite trying, we cannot get that many workers at this moment,' he said.

Residents have also questioned the effectiveness of the medicine, as the menace has not decreased despite regular spraying. They complain that swarms of mosquitoes reappear within 10 to 15 minutes of spraying. But Dr Zahidul Islam rejected complaints about the quality of the medicine. He said the SCC uses 'Temephos' to destroy mosquito larvae and 'Malathion 5S' to kill adult mosquitoes. These medicines are collected directly from the Bangladesh Army under government management. According to him, every time medicine is purchased, samples are sent for testing to the IEDCR and the Department of Agricultural Extension's Khamarbari; only if the test results are satisfactory is it applied in the field. He said the reason the medicine smells less than before is the use of products comparatively safer for public health and the environment.

Officials also see the city's waste management as an important reason behind the spread of mosquitoes. In their view, many residents throw garbage into drains and canals instead of giving it to the designated vans. This obstructs the flow of water and creates an environment for mosquito breeding. On the monthly fee for collecting garbage from homes, Eklim Abdin said the waste tax taken with the holding tax is mainly used to clean the city's roads, sewers, drains and canals; garbage from homes is collected by various private organisations, NGOs, local clubs and organisations. One van can collect garbage from 130 to 150 homes a day; unless each home pays at least 100 to 150 taka a month, it is difficult to ensure the van puller's income.

Since the political changeover of 5 August 2024, the Sylhet City Corporation has no elected ward councillors. Dr Zahidul Islam said the absence of councillors had created some stagnation in field-level activities; although government officials work following the rules, public representatives directly understand local problems and people's expectations, so their role in providing instant civic services is important. On the other hand, Eklim Abdin denied allegations of a lack of coordination among the departments. He claimed coordination among the health, waste management and engineering departments is good, and that the three departments are working together under the administrator's leadership and the chief executive officer's supervision. Both officials, however, agree that the city cannot be kept mosquito-free through the city corporation's cleanliness activities alone—owners must also take responsibility for keeping private land, drains inside buildings and surroundings clean.