Spare 10 minutes at 10 am for 10 Sundays for cleaning: GHMC Mayor

HYDERABAD: Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Mayor Gadwal Vijaya Lakshmi has asked the people of the city to participate in the drive for the prevention of mosquitoes. She started the '10:10:10' initiative on Sunday. It signifies 'taking out 10 minutes of time at 10 am every Sunday for 10 weeks' to clean homes to prevent the spread of mosquitoes and thus contain the dengue fever.

The Mayor said that every Sunday, every family member should take up hygienic activities for 10 minutes to keep themselves safe free from mosquito-borne diseases for 10 weeks. She said that the GHMC had conducted intensive mosquito control programmes in 4,846 colonies under its limits. One ALO, appointed for every colony, was made responsible for the drive, she added.

The Mayor stated that the entomology department was taking measures to prevent mosquitoes in all the areas using oil balls, Gambushia fish in dirty water and anti-larva control measures.

Additional Commissioner B Santhosh said that extensive measures had been taken to prevent dengue adding that the 10:10:10 initiative was being conducted to effectively control the larvae. He said that people should clear stagnated water and also ensure that no water was accumulated under coolers drums and in surroundings. The GHMC is also taking additional measures to enhance public awareness on this issue. Besides dropping pamphlets at houses, stickers were also being pasted on the walls detailing the preventive measures against mosquitoes.

Additional Commissioner Santosh stated that the programme had been a success with local people's representatives, MLAs, MLCs and corporators participating in it. Zonal Commissioner Ravi Kiran was among the others who participated in the event.

Keeping the continuous rains in mind, the GHMC has launched awareness programmes on preventive measures to contain the spread of seasonal and contagious diseases caused by mosquitoes. Special attention is being paid to lowland and slum areas within the GHMC.

Through GHMC Entomology Department, the staff and officials are going door to door and taking extensive necessary measures to check the seasonal epidemics besides mosquito prevention and control at the field level. Awareness on how to carry out the preventive measures inside and outside the houses is also being created.