Mosquito breeding: Fines increased up to Rs 10 lakh

CHENNAI: Acting tough against the building owners in the city who fail to control mosquito breeding on their premises, the Greater Chennai Corporation has increased the penalty amount by several times. The fine is much stiffer for construction sites of non-residential buildings that may have to cough up as much as Rs 10 lakh.

According to a circular issued by Corporation Commissioner G Prakash, individual residential buildings would first be issued a notice, and slapped with a fine of Rs 100 and Rs 200 for second and third offence.

“For the construction sites spread over 5,000 sqft, hotels above two-star rating, industries, and hospitals with more than 50 beds, the penalty for failing to control mosquito breeding will range from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 10 lakh,” said an official.

Earlier, the Corporation was levying Rs 500 to Rs 1 lakh for construction sites, Rs 5,000 to Rs 2 lakh for educational institutions and Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000 for government buildings. After the revision, government buildings have to pay up to Rs 1 lakh. Educational institutions with less than 1,000 students would have to pay Rs 5,000, Rs 25,000 and Rs 50,000 for the first, second and third offence.

The official added that the revised penalty came into effect on September 16, and the circular was issued to instruct and apprise the field level officials to implement the new penalty rates.

The Corporation has been taking stringent action against major commercial establishments in recent days. Within a month, the civic officials have fined a Metro Rail contractor, a food delivery firm and the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) for uncontrolled mosquito breeding.

“We inspected 6,913 locked houses and 25,287 vacant plots during source reduction drives. During the inspection, we are also levying a penalty against the owners. As of now, we have collected more than Rs 45 lakh as a penalty,” the official said.

Meanwhile, sources in the civic body said the more than 500 persons have suffered dengue fever in the city.

Several children are undergoing treatment for fever at Institute of Child Health (ICH) in Egmore. Sources in the civic body said that more than 500 persons, mostly children, have been affected by dengue in the city