Click to play videoNew Delhi: The latest mosquito count report shows that dengue-carrying mosquito numbers have increased in New Delhi by over four times in June, which is the same period as last year because of the early rains.
Keeping a check on the mosquito menace, the Delhi government has decided to ship in frogs from neighbouring states to curb the rising mosquito population in the Capital.
There are questions rising if the frogs will be able to control this increasing population of mosquitoes.
There are 237 species of frogs in the country and while they are all insectivorous, mosquitoes form only one part of their insect diet.
International studies have concluded that frogs are in no way effective in containing the mosquito population in the country. And certainly not the Ades mosquito responsible for spreading dengue and Chikungunya.
“These mosquitoes are domestic or peri domestic species that breed in flower vases, water coolers, water tankers etc. It is neither feasible nor viable to introduce frogs, ” says National Institute of Malaria Research Director, Professor AK Dash.
There's another problem with this scheme. Frog population in Delhi has been declining because of the polluted Yamuna and disappearing wetlands.
Reports suggest that state health department may ship frogs from UP and Haryana to make up for the deficit. But conservationists have turned down the idea.
“Importing frogs is not viable. We need to improve their habitat and control pollution levels in the city. Frogs from outside may die for same reasons, the earlier one did,” says Sanjeev from
Bombay Natural History Society.
For now fish gambusia has been introduced to some of the water bodies in the capital that are known worldwide to control mosquitoes as they feed on mosquito larvae.
The ministry might as well need to ship gambusia considering the dreading numbers of mosquitoes this year.
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