Civic body in Delhi deploys drone to spray larvicide to combat dengue

In a first-of-its-kind initiative, a drone was on Wednesday used by vector-control team of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation to spray larvicide to check the spread of dengue in the city, cases of which have seen a record spike here.

East Delhi Mayor Shyam Sunder Aggarwal claimed that the EDMC was the "first civic body" in the national capital to deploy a drone for control of vector-borne disease.

Larvicide was sprayed on the banks of river Yamuna using a drone, which can carry a container with a capacity of 10-12 litre, he said.

"We have hired an agency for it as a pilot project, and if the response is good, we will deploy more drones fir vector-control. One drone can cover about 3 km range," the mayor said.

The move essentially is to supplement the efforts of the municipal team, especially to reach to inaccessible areas, like a swampy land or middke of a lake, where staff cannot go to do spraying, officials said.

Dengue cases in Delhi have seen a massive surge in November, triggering a blame game between the ruling BJP in civic bodies and the AAP, which leads the Delhi government in the city.

The number of dengue cases in Delhi this season has crossed 5,270, the highest in the national capital in a year since 2015, according to a civic report released on Monday.

Nearly 2,570 fresh cases of the vector-borne disease were logged in the city in the last one week. However, no fresh fatality was reported.

According to the report on vector-borne diseases, a total of 5,277 dengue cases were recorded this year till November 13.