Agartala, Dec 28: In a bid to control malaria, dengue, and other vector-borne diseases, the Tripura Health Department and Agartala Municipal Corporation released larvivorous fishes, which feed on insect larvae in urban water bodies and sewers.
Agartala, Corporator of Ward No. 13 of Agartala Municipality, Goutam Chanda, informed that the lavivorous fingerlings were released in all the drains of Ward No. 13 to prevent mosquito menace.
“The fingerlings that feed on mosquito larvae were released in the drains of Ward No. 13. We appeal to people not to throw waste products into drains to make them waterlogged,” said Chanda.
Also Read: Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma refutes chopper procurement, urges media accuracy
Earlier this April, Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha declared to make Tripura malaria-free by 2027 while speaking at the Asia-Pacific Leaders Conclave on Malaria Eradication 2023 in New Delhi.
He had said that his government has adopted a four-point action plan to check vector-borne diseases like malaria.
The four-point action plan includes using vector-control sprays, insecticide-treated mosquito nets, larvivorous fish to control mosquitoes, and widespread awareness about malaria.
The municipality has been using larvivorous fish to control mosquitoes in Agartala city for the last few years. Over 15,000 lavivorous fingerings were released in the city’s sewers in 2018.
The Agartala municipal body started a mosquito bio-control project in 2017 in collaboration with the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP).
There were over 5,000 malaria cases identified in different hospitals in Tripura in 2017, along with 80 identified cases of dengue and 44 cases of Chikunguniya. Ninety-eight patients were found to have been infected with Japanese encephalitis in 2017.
Read: Five Assam residents sentenced to three years in prison for elephant tusk smuggling
WATCH:
Also, Follow us on-
Twitter-twitter.com/nemediahub
Youtube channel- www.youtube.com/@NortheastMediaHub2020
Instagram- www.instagram.com/nemediahub
