A defunct swimming pool at a residential complex at Merces, is becoming a headache for people in the surroundings as the monsoon gathers momentum and mosquitoes breed uncontrolled leading to a scare of vector-borne diseases like Dengue, Malaria etc. Even the Directorate of Health Services (DHS) inspection and its order to empty the pool, has not yielded the desired action; thus sparking doubts whether the DHS is helpless when it comes to implementing the preventive guidelines in the rainy season. The case in question has been repetitive in nature as seen in the last few years with the swimming pool being unused through the year. It turns into a health hazard come monsoons.
In the meanwhile, DHS has come up with a damage control method of putting a certain type of a fish into the defunct swimming pool which is full of water. ‘Kaankatro’ as it is known in Konkani, is a fish that feeds on the mosquito larvae. And DHS is banking on it to avert vector-borne disease outbreak, as it appears in this case.
The authorities need to find a permanent solution to this annual problem. Why must the neighborhood be put through the anxiety, the people wonder. The DHS is very particular about stagnant water accumulated in abandoned tyres, bottles, garden equipments, gallery-mounted potted plants etc; but the vast swimming pools with huge volume of water breeding mosquitoes seems to go unnoticed or it turns a blind eye due to the lack of authority. Hence, it will be important for the Town and Country Planning Department to mark out clear guidelines to those wanting to construct swimming pools in their housing projects in order to prevent the swimming pools becoming defunct and turning into breeding sites for mosquitoes. If the rules are not followed, the TCP must crack down on the errant societies. Time to act is now, feel the residents of
Merces.
