More than 50pc mosquito eradication workers absent

There are a total of 17 workers for the mosquito eradication programme in ward-29 of the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC). However, only eight of them were present on Tuesday, which is less than half the total number of workers employed there.

Six workers were seen busy watching videos on mobile phones or resting at around 8:40 am inside the mosquito eradication office in the Krishi Market area of Mohammadpur in ward-29 of Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC). Their shift started some 10 minutes earlier. That means they were supposed to be in different areas to spray mosquito repellents by 8:30 am.

Asked why they were not out for work yet, one of the workers named Abdul Hai said, “Most of the workers are absent. We were waiting for them. We have no idea who will come and who will not. So it would be a haphazard had we gone for work without informing others. So we were waiting.”

Earlier, this correspondent asked whether the supervisor was there in the office or not. Hearing the question, some of the workers got up from the chairs and hurriedly came out with spray machines. They said their supervisor Anowarul Haque was on leave for Eid holidays.

So was the scenario at the mosquito eradication office for ward-29 under the DNCC on Tuesday.

Speaking to the workers, it was learnt that three of the workers were appointed as the employees of the city corporation. Some 13 workers from a company named Multi International and one from a company named Jamuna Limited have been appointed through a contractor on a daily wage basis. Seven workers from the Multi International and two workers appointed by the corporation were absent on Tuesday.

The absent workers from the Multi International are – Al Amin, Sakib, Ibrahim, Rocky, Abdullah, Atikur and Atik Ullah. Speaking regarding them, Abdur Rashid, one of the workers from the Multi International, said six of those seven absentees went to their villages on Eid holidays.

“One of them returned Monday, but he is absent today. He is probably sick,” he said.

Abdul Hai was the only one from the workers of the DNCC who was present. The remaining two – Siraj Mia and Md Iqbal were absent. However, Md Iqbal joined later when the workers were about to go out. But they couldn’t provide any update regarding Siraj Mia.

The process of spraying mosquito repellents is known as larviciding. The mosquito larvae are killed in this process. The DNCC uses temephos and novaluron tablets for larviciding. Each of the workers uses 60 ml of larvicides each day. They mix 15 ml of larvicide with 10 litres of water and spray the mixture on accumulated water. So they use 40 litres of that mixture every day.

However, there no larvicide machine in the mosquito eradication office for ward-29 of DNCC on Tuesday. The workers were mixing the larvicides with water arbitrarily. They said they use the caps of soft drink bottles to measure the larvicide.

Asked about the measuring machine, a worker named Abdur Rashid rushed inside in search of it. Another named Abdul Hai told Prothom Alo, “We got a measuring machine a long ago. It is lost now. We measure the larvicide based on assumption now.”

Atik Ullah, who was appointed through a contractor, joined work on Monday. He was not present on Tuesday. Around 30 ml of temephos was still left in his spray machine. But there should be no leftovers. The workers couldn’t give any explanation.

This correspondent found the cell phone of Anowarul Haque, supervisor of the mosquito eradication programme in ward-29, switched off.

The ward-29 falls under zone-5 of the DNCC. SM Wasimul Islam is the health official of the zone. Speaking to Prothom Alo over the phone, he said he was on leave for a long time. He just returned from abroad on Tuesday. There was another official to work in place of him.

He said there would be no negligence from now on.

*This report appeared on the print and online versions of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Ashish Basu