Section 243 in West Bengal Municipal Corporation Act, 2006
243. Prevention of mosquito-breeding.
(1)If, in the opinion of the Corporation, any pool, ditch, tank, well, pond. swamp, quarry, hole, drain, cesspool, watercourse, pit, cistern, desert or air-cooler, or ground, underground, or overhead tank, or any collection of water, or any land on which water may, at any time, accumulate, is, or is likely to become, a breeding place of mosquitoes or, in any other respect, becomes a nuisance, the Corporation may, by notice, require the owner or the person having control thereof to take all or any of the following actions:-(a)to clean, or drain off, or remove water therefrom, or to provide cover thereto; or(b)to have any courtyard, lane, passage or open space paved with such material, and in such manner, as may be directed by the Corporation, to keep such paving in proper repair, or to raise the level of such courtyard. land, passage, or open space; or(c)to fill up any unwholesome waterbody:Provided that any unwholesome waterbody can be filled up only after compliance with the provisions of section 4C of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act, 1955 , (West Ben. of 1956), by the owner or the person having control thereof.(2)No person shall keep, or permit to be kept or maintained, within any premises or land, any collection of stagnant or flowing water which, in the opinion of the Corporation, is, or is likely to be, a breeding place for mosquitoes, unless such collection of water is treated in such manner as may effectively prevent the breeding of mosquito.(3)All borrow pits dug in the course of construction and repair of buildings, roads, or embankments, shall be deep and connected with each other in the formation of a drain directed towards the lowest level and properly sloped for discharge into a river, stream, channel, or drain, and no person shall create any isolated borrow pit which is likely to cause accumulation of water which again, in turn, may breed mosquito.(4)The owner or the occupier of any premises shall not keep therein any bottle, tyre (old or new), vessel, can, container or receptacle in such manner as may allow it to collect, or to retain, water which may breed mosquito, and shall clean and dry such bottle, tyre (old or new), vessel, can, container or receptacle at the interval of seven days.(5)The owner or the occupier of any premises shall wrap the openings of the vent-pipes and the outlets of septic tanks with proper mosquito-proof nets and shall maintain covering slabs of septic tanks to prevent entry and exit of mosquitoes.(6)The owner or the occupier of any premises shall seal the overhead tanks, cisterns or water-receptacles to prevent mosquito-breeding, and shall provide safe ladder for making the overhead tanks or cisterns or water-receptacles approachable in order to facilitate inspection of the water in the container by the authorities of the Corporation.(7)For construction of permanent water collections such as swimming pools, artificial fountains, or water reservoirs, constructed for the purpose of beautification,-(a)an application shall be submitted to the Corporation, stating therein the anti-larval measures taken by the applicant to keep the water free of mosquito larvae;(b)the Corporation, after considering the application, shall issue a licence to the applicant;(c)the applicant shall receive the said licence on payment of such fee as may be determined by the Corporation, and shall renew the said licence annually.(8)The owners or the occupiers of all private ponds or water reservoirs shall keep such ponds or water reservoirs free from water hyacinth or allied weeds to prevent mosquito-breeding.(9)If any person contravenes any provision of this section or fails to comply with any order or direction under this section, he shall be punished with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, and a daily fine of fifty rupees in case of continuance of such contravention commencing from the day on which such contravention is brought to the notice of such person by the Corporation.
