'Mosquito Terminator' special train flagged off

A special train which will help in preventing mosquito breeding along the railway tracks in Delhi was today jointly flagged off by the Delhi Division of Northern Railway and South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC).

The 'Mosquito Terminator on Wheels' will cover a distance of 150 km in each cycle over a period of two days, a statement from the railways said.

The train has been envisaged to control and mitigate the menace of mosquito breeding in the burrow pits alongside railway tracks, as a measure to contribute towards public health and, more importantly, for the health safety of people residing at places adjoining the tracks.

A truck mounted power sprayer provided by SDMC loaded on a special kind of wagon named DBKM will spray insecticides during the train movement to sanitise the area up to a distance of 50-60 metres along the tracks on Ring Railway passing via Hazrat Nizamuddin, Lajpat Nagar, Sewa Nagar, Lodhi Colony, Delhi Safdarjung, Brar Square, Inderpuri, Patel Nagar, Dayabasti, Delhi Kishanganj, Sadar Bazar and New Delhi, the statement said.

The train will cover other areas of NCR region in subsequent days up to September 8, it said.

There will be two rounds of spraying each week to cover the peak mosquito breeding season, totalling 10 rounds/trips in five weeks. Normally, it is very difficult to take around a wagon loaded with truck, as in railway parlance, the truck is ODC (Over Dimension Consignment).

"The insecticide will be sprayed from 7 am to 11 am and from 5 pm to 9 pm on both sides of the rail track in Delhi. This preventive measure will go a long way in protecting thousands of people from chikungunya and dengue," SDMC mayor Narendra Chawla said.

"This will not only eliminate larvae, but also neutralise mosquitoes. It will also provide the desired relief to a large number of residents putting up in JJ clusters along the rail tracks, where by-road approach is not possible for spraying insecticide," he said.