Hyderabad: The use of drones for spraying anti-larval chemicals has proved hassle-free, reducing time and manpower requirements. Mr Prem Kumar Vislawath, founder of Marut Drones, who built the first indigenous drone to eradicate mosquitoes and hyacinths on lakes, said spraying on one acre of the lake takes 10 minutes.
The GHMC has taken to using drones spray bio-weedicide to prevent water hyacinth growth and for anti-larval operations. This operation has proved result-oriented and attained 40 per cent effectiveness in the eradication of hyacinth and a 60 per cent decline in larval breeding.
Speaking to this newspaper, Mr Kumar said, “We are registered in T-Hub and mentored by RICH and IIIT-Hyderabad. Marut is utilising drones to dispense repellents over lakes lost to infestation. Marut Drones were the first of their kind used for this purpose in which real time reports and predictive analytical data are used to tackle mosquito larvae eradication and water hyacinths at a completely new level.”
He said urban lakes had become breeding havens for mosquitoes. “The GHMC partnered with us for mosquito eradication and, in March, we successfully experimented with the technology and from July we started using it on a regular basis. So far 12 lakes have been sprayed,” Mr Kumar said. He said previous attempts to eradicate mosquitoes manually had many challenges. Twenty people would take two weeks to complete the task. Manual application requires going into the lake which is a high-risk activity.
