'Homes safest place for mosquitoes to breed'

A unique competition ‘Drive Larva Day’, directed towards destroying mosquito breeding sites and to create awareness on Dengue, was jointly organised by Dakshina Kannada district administration, district health department and Mangaluru City Corporation.

Students from 27 degree colleges in Mangaluru took part in the inter-college competition, setting an example.

Speaking during the inaugural function held at Abhisheka Hall on the premises of Kadri Sri Manjunatha Temple here, Deputy Commissioner S Sasikanth Senthil said that homes were the safest place for mosquitoes to breed in. Therefore, people should clear stagnant water on the premises of their house, he said.

Mangaluru City Corporation Deputy Commissioner (Revenue) Gayathri Nayak called upon the students to pass on the message about the mosquito breeding sites to the general public.

Twenty seven teams representing various colleges, took part in the competition. Each team comprised five members. The health department deployed a supervisor for each team to guide the students. Each team was assigned a site in Kadri region.

Prior to the field visits, all the team members were asked to wear gloves and to compulsorily smear neem oil on the body to avoid mosquito bites. Each team had to visit at least 10 sites.

Some participating teams have visited 25 to 30 sites and observed that most of the mosquito breeding sites were on the terraces and chajjas--the protruding cover over the windows of an establishment.

The people were advised by the teams to clean their terraces and chajjas on regular basis. The students collected samples of larva and showed them to the owners of the sites.

The slogans coined by the students of St Aloysius College - ‘ABCD - Aeidis Breed Cause Dengue’ and ‘Fight the bite’ were printed on the T Shirts provided to the participants.

The ‘Drive Larva Day’ was based on the idea of treasure hunt and the teams which finds highest number of breeding sites consisting mosquito larvae, were awarded with cash prizes, during the valedictory programme.

Dr P Dayananda Pai and P Sathish Pai Government First Grade College, Car Street, bagged the first prize.

St Aloysius College won the second prize and Government First Grade College for Women, Balmatta, bagged the third prize.

The teams winning first, second and third prizes were awarded Rs 5,000, Rs 3,000 and Rs 2,000 respectively.

Selected six teams made a presentation on their field visits, on the occasion.

District RCH Officer Dr Rajesh, District Urban Development Cell Project Director Prasanna and Malaria and Dengue activist Suresh Shetty were present.