The Dhaka South City Corporation (DSSC) has come up with a bizarre solution to tackle the runaway problem of combating mosquito infestation in its jurisdictional area. Authorities have stated that they will conduct house-to-house inspections and fine or jail residents who are found to have unclean environments that help breed the deadly Aedes mosquitoes.

Talk about insensitivity and passing on the buck! The fact of the matter is that city authorities in both South and North have failed to tackle the problem thanks to a general lack of monitoring and keeping the city clean so that the infestation didn't get out of hand. Suddenly it is the headache of 165,000 homeowners of DSCC who are going to be held liable for a problem that the city corporations have failed to tackle.

Going by a report published in this paper on March 20, residents' associations from all over Dhaka have demanded that authorities spray chemicals to destroy these mosquito dens. That there are only 283 sprayers for Dhaka, which occupies 82 square km, makes it literally impossible for the two city corporations to contain the mosquito menace. Instead of ensuring better services and monitoring their employees, this off-the-cuff remark of making residents liable for something they are not responsible for comes across as extremely brash and irresponsible. We strongly urge that the two city corporations coordinate with other utility service providers to clean the sewerage networks and employ new personnel to adequately spray areas that are likely to be ideal spots for breeding deadly mosquito breeds like Aedes that cause Dengue and Chikungunya.