AAP, BJP spar over ‘mosquito menace’ in Delhi

The AAP on Tuesday claimed that the BJP has transformed Delhi into a "mosquito capital" by not undertaking fogging exercise this year, with the BJP rejecting the charges as "vague".

Addressing a press conference here, AAP leader Durgesh Pathak said the national capital was facing mosquito menace due to the failure of the BJP-ruled civic bodies.

"The BJP has transformed Delhi into a mosquito capital. The party-ruled Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has transformed the city into a garbage capital. They have also not done fogging this year…,” he said.

He said AAP demands that the BJP-ruled MCD should begin fogging within 48 hours or else Delhiites will take to streets.

"It costs around Rs 100 crore to do fogging across the city. The BJP knows that it will never return to power so the party has spent this money elsewhere," Pathak claimed.

Meanwhile, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said fogging was not undertaken due to DDMA guidelines amid Covid-19 outbreak.

“In his political compulsion to level allegations against the MCDs, the AAP leader (Pathak) seems to have intentionally chosen to ignore the fact that the DDMA has asked to stop fogging amid the pandemic outbreak as it can cause breathing problems among people.

"The allegation levelled by Pathak that the MCDs have not started fogging in Delhi, hence, they have pilfered the fogging budget of Rs 100 crore, is totally vague. The fact is that before Covid, normal fogging in wards was a routine work which went on round-the-year, while special extensive campaigns were launched during pre-monsoon and post-monsoon phases which witnessed high mosquito breeding," Kapoor said.

Rejecting the corruption charges, he added that the annual budget of fogging of the three MCDs is not even Rs 50 crore.