DOHA: Fumigation services of Al Rayyan Municipality have come to a standstill, leaving several homes infested with pests and cockroaches, residents complain.
Al Rayyan is a large municipality covering a vast area. A senior official from the civic body said they had run out of pesticide stocks.
“We have not been providing fumigation services since August 22 (for more than two months now) since we have no pesticide stocks left,” said Muqbil Al Shummari.
He told local Arabic daily Al Raya in remarks published yesterday that the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning floats tenders to procure stocks every two years.
However, this year tenders were delayed due to the restructuring of some ministries. The responsibility to import stocks and coordinate with other municipalities has now been assigned to Doha Municipality, he said.
Al Rayyan Municipality has contacted the ministry and they have given assurances to provide pesticide stocks in a few weeks, he said. According to Al Shummari, they are receiving more than 50 requests a day for fumigating homes. “Requests are piling up. We now have more than 500 requests but we can’t do a thing.”
A Qatari, who gave his name as Abdullah Al Suwaidi, told the daily that he and his family members couldn’t sleep because his home was invaded by pests. Efforts to contact Al Rayyan Municipality for help have failed because it has run out of pesticide stocks, he said.
Jarallah Al Marri, from the sprawling and working class locality of Maither, said the area’s streets remain infested by rodents and attempts to rope in civic fumigation services have been in vain. Black rats are a bigger menace, Al Marri added
Residents said private fumigation service providers are having a gala time. Some are asking for cash deposits of up to QR3,000, claimed a resident.
There are other providers who demand QR300 for one visit. “The problem is, their pesticides are not effective. The civic fumigants are the best,” claimed another resident.
Meanwhile, in Al Wakra, some expatriates this newspaper spoke to said their homes remained invaded particularly by American cockroaches (smaller roaches).
A resident said the menace of smaller cockroaches in his home, especially kitchen, was too much to handle.
Several residents of Doha also complained of cockroach menace in their homes. One resident of Old Airport locality said he got his home fumigated by a private company every month for QR200. The Peninsula
