Housefly menace makes life miserable for residents

 Karam Prakash

Tribune News Service

Patiala, December 5

“Our relatives refrain from coming to our homes due to houseflies – claim the people of Kheri Musalmani village in Patiala. A problem not seen and heard before wherein, a dozen animals have already died, reportedly, due to infection by the swarm of houseflies. In fact, the flies have been haunting the 200 households of the village for the past two years.

When The Tribune visited the village, it was found that every nook and corner of the village was infested with swarms of houseflies in the village. The villagers claim that every morning, they had to spray disinfectants and pesticides in their homes to get respite from the flies. Majority of villagers choose to remain indoors, and keep their eatables, all the time, covered.

Many villagers have attributed this menace to the presence of poultry farm, just 250 metres away from the village.

“The poultry owner has been continuously increasing the number of poultries, which is the cause of the problem.” said the villagers.

Gurvinder Singh, a villager, said, “We have complained to the chairman of the Punjab Pollution Control Board, Civil Surgeon and Sub- Divisional Magistrate (SDM), but to no avail. The officials had once reprimanded the poultry owner for the mess, but, the problem continues.”

“The number of flies has increased exponentially over the past few months, giving a hard time to the villagers. Every corner of the village is affected by these flies. It has become a nightmare since we can’t eat our food even when indoor. Preventive steps like spraying of chemicals has proven unfruitful.” said another villager Joginder Singh.

In fact, housefly is a major domestic and veterinary pest that causes irritation, spoils food, and acts as a vector for many pathogenic organisms.

Ramesh Mathur, Poultry Inspector, said, “Last time when we visited the village, there was no such issue. Moreover, the people of the village should keep their environment clean. Though, poultry farms to contribute to the breeding of houseflies.”

Health experts

Though there seemed to be no direct connection between the two, it may be a result of host of factors, wrong use of insecticide on the poultry farm, improper use of growth regulators in the poultry feed, inadequate poultry manure removal and management, use of poultry manure in the area, as fertilizers could be the contributing factors leading to a high fly density in the area.