4.59 lakh rats killed in 24 BMC wards in last two years

Over 4.59 lakh rats were killed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in the last two years across 24 administrative wards in Mumbai, an RTI query has revealed.

The civic body said more number of rodents were killed after they appointed private players to carry out the task.

A BMC officer said they would rope in more private players to kill rodents across all the administrative wards.

"In years 2016 and 2017, a total of 4.59 lakh rats were trapped, baited, and killed by the NRK (Night Rat Killers) and were disposed of scientifically," BMC Insecticide Officer Rajan Naringrekar stated in a response to an RTI query submitted by activist Chetan Kothari.

The BMC has recruited 44 NRKs permanently who work in night and report at their respective ward office at 7 am every day. Private persons are paid Rs 18 by the BMC for killing a rat.

More number of rats were killed after the insecticide department roped in five registered private organisations to carry out the task.

"After roping in these private players, the BMC trapped and disposed of 35,640 rats per month in the first three months from January to March 2018. Due to good results, the civic body has now decided to rope in private players in the rest 19 administrative wards in the city in few days," Naringrekar told PTI.

The officer appealed to that citizens to cooperate with the BMC to end the rat menace by not dumping leftover food haphazardly.

"We apply 4 'D's Deny Entry, Deny Shelter, Deny Food and Destroy in our task to kill rodents. However, we need support of people to carry out the task successfully," he said.

Kothari expressed the need to launch an initiative to control breeding of rats.