Kolkata to Fight Dengue by Flying Drones

A drone will be used by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) from 2018 to fight against dengue aids in capturing "difficult images" of stagnant water on terraces of the high rises.

Kolkata's city civic body conducted a pilot-run last week. They flew a drone over the South City towers, which was located in the southernmost part of the city's Bikramgarh area.

‘Drones are to be used to control dengue by capturing images of stagnant waters in the city's multi-storied buildings.’

In 2017, dengue has taken several lives in and around the metropolis.

"With the number of high-rises in the city grew, and is becoming quite a difficult task for our workers to reach to the terraces of the high-rises and the large housing complexes and run a check on dengue. Taking stock of the situation we have decided to use drones for the purpose," said a senior official of KMC's vector-control department.

The official also added that they are planning to fly the drones over the buildings to capture images of stagnant water and to plan accordingly to fight dengue.

After the pilot-run, a meeting was held by senior officials with mayor-in-council Atin Ghosh on the images captured by the drone.

In the meeting, the officials discussed on how to use the technology in dengue-prevention and had agreed to use the drones from March, 2018.

Ghosh further requested KMC officials to prepare a report on the usage of drones in controlling dengue in the city's multi-storied buildings.

"The inclusion of drones in capturing images will surely help KMC in controlling the vector-borne disease in the coming times. We consider this as a great decision for dengue prevention will be placed before the council meeting after mayor Sovan Chatterjee gives his nod," a civic official said.

However, the KMC is still working on the number of drones required in controlling the disease.

Introducing the drones in the city might need the permission of city mayor and mayor-in-council.



Source: Medindia