Mayor Muhammed Hanif has capitulated, and that too at the wrong time. While the dengue menace is looming and mosquito eradication is the topmost priority of all health and civic organisations, the Mayor of the Dhaka City Corporation has said that mosquito-free Dhaka is not possible and that the DCC’s attempts were aimed at keeping the mosquito population under control.

The Mayor has said nothing illogical. No one thinks that mosquito eradication is easy. Nor does it entirely rest with the DCC to accomplish the task. Household and community efforts must go hand in hand; this is especially true in the case of the Aedes mosquito which breeds more commonly within the households in clean water of small containers left unattended for weeks.

At long last the Mayor has chosen to be candid and would deserve credit for it. But the fact remains that the people are far from convinced that the DCC had ever been very serious about destroying mosquitoes. A mosquito-free Dhaka had been the Mayor’s top agenda but little in the last seven years was done to lend substance to his election pledge. There was nothing to show that mosquito eradication was a priority. On the contrary, it was often reported that mosquito eradication had been stalled for this or that reason, like non-availability of pesticides, absence of manpower, and adulterated or non-efficacious chemicals. Even fund shortage was sometimes cited as the reason. How can there be fund constraint for a programme that is accorded the top priority? The scheme of releasing the larvae-destroying Gappi fish was introduced, then it was withdrawn. The impression was created that some quarters within and outside the DCC had grown a vested interest in repelling rather than destroying the winged insects.

Even under the shadow of the present dread of dengue the DCC does not seem to have been spurred to all-out action. For example, the City Corporation can mount an all-encompassing media campaign for educating the people; it can also individually contact all the wards about the do’s and don’t’s in order to prevent Aedes mosquito from breeding. The task is daunting and we do feel sympathy for the Mayor but a partial success is the least the people would expect.