To deal with the rat nuisance in the city, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to rope in non-government organisations (NGOs) to carry out extermination works in the city.
According to the civic officials, the rat menace is rampant in Mumbai city. Besides posing health hazards to people, the rodents cause damage to household properties, utility cables, telephone lines and foundations of buildings. But due to inadequate manpower, the civic body has not been able to control the rat population in the city. Currently, there are 44 night rat-killers (NRK). There was a proposal to appoint additional 64 NRKs for 24 civic wards, but it has been now shelved.
It is mostly the chawl and slums dwellers in the city who have to face the damage done by this rodent. “As the leftover food is thrown on the streets or in gutters, rats get attracted to the food and are hence found in more numbers in these areas. Therefore, instead of appointing night rat killers, we have now decided to outsource their works to other organisations. The decision was taken to get more manpower at our disposal to control rat population. The NGOs will be remunerated depending on the number of rats they have killed.”
The rat nuisance has seen a sharp hike in areas like Girgaon, Chandanwadi, Chira Bazaar, Byculla, Mohammad Ali Road, Nagpada, Lalbaug and Mahim. There was also a spurt in leptospirosis cases during monsoon this year. The water-borne disease has already resulted in the death of two people.
Leptospirosis is caused when people come in contact with water contaminated by animal urine. The disease causing bacteria is carried by various domestic and wild animals such as rats, cows and dogs. People wading through waterlogged streets have high chances of contracting the disease, if they have wounds on their feet.
“The proposal to appoint NGOs for the rat killing works will be soon tabled for approval,” said a BMC official.
