Now, Jay Bhanushali in BMC mosquito net

After serving a notice to actors Shahid Kapoor and Sushmita Sen, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has sent a notice to television actor and anchor Jay Bhanushali after it found two mosquito-breeding spots in his Goregaon apartment. He will be fined up to Rs 10,000, after the hearing of his case by the metropolitan magistrate.

The BMC’s health department inspected Mr Bhanushali’s house on Wednesday, as part of a routine inspection of his building, Imperial Towers, in Goregaon. Rajan Naringrekar, the chief insecticide officer of the BMC, said, “Our officials found Aedes aegypti (the mosquito that breeds in fresh water and is a known as carrier for dengue) larvae in a money plant pot in Bhanushali’s living room, and in a tyre in an open space within the house. We have served him a notice under section 381b of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act for failing to maintain cleanliness.”

This section provides for the BMC to prosecute an individual for negligence and failing to maintain cleanliness in his surroundings. Following this notice, the BMC’s legal department will file a case in the Metropolitan magistrate’s court, which can impose a fine of up to Rs 10,000.

Bhanushali contracted dengue last week and was admitted to a city-based hospital for five days. He was discharged on Wednesday and has been suggested bed rest. He is currently hosting the television reality show The Voice India Kids.

Meanwhile, a review meeting of BMC, with all heads of departments was held on Saturday with municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta. Mr Mehta stated that more lawyers should be hired to handle the cases of notices that are being served when breeding spots are found within housing societies. The existing staff has been found to be inadequate, as only there are only 11 advocates dealing with matters in all 24 wards in the city. So far, the BMC has slapped 15,000 notices on offenders.

As per the Mumbai Municipal Corporation (MMC) Act, 1888, the BMC serves a notice and file the case in the metropolitan magistrate court. The penalty imposed on offenders ranges from Rs 2,000 to Rs 10,000 for failure to prevent mosquito breeding on private premises.

Mr Mehta said, “After hiring new advocates the legal department of BMC will be able to focus on pending issues. The new lawyers will be hired to handle mosquito breeding cases, which are time consuming. We will pay them a percentage of the fine amount.”

The BMC had also found mosquito-breeding spots in Shahid Kapoor and Sushmita Sen’s houses last month. Both actors were served with notices under section 381b of the MMC Act.

Following this, the civic legal department also lodged a case against them in the metropolitan magistrate’s court and the hearing is still pending.

As part of the drive to locate the possible breeding grounds of aedes aegypti, the civic body has been checking various high rises in the city.