Bangladesh Prime Minister Rejects Chittagong Officials’ US Trip for Mosquito Control Study
Prime Minister Tareque Rahman has denied permission for a delegation from the Chittagong City Corporation, led by Mayor Shahadat Hossain, to travel to the United States for a study tour focused on mosquito control initiatives. The government stated that the proposed trip to Florida and Chicago was unnecessary, suggesting that local solutions could be developed through direct observation of the environment at home.
In a sharp critique of the proposal, the Prime Minister’s office remarked that officials do not need to travel abroad to learn how to manage mosquito populations. According to a statement from the Prime Minister’s press wing, one could derive effective, innovative methods for mosquito eradication simply by spending two or three hours in the evening beside any local drainage site or stagnant pool.
The delegation, which included the mayor along with four senior city corporation officials and a representative from the Local Government Division, had sought approval to visit laboratories and manufacturing facilities operated by Valent BioSciences LLC. The company was slated to fund the travel, and the proposal had been forwarded to the Prime Minister’s office by the Local Government Division for final authorization.
Captain Ikhtiar Uddin Ahmed, the chief cleaning officer for the Chittagong City Corporation, confirmed that the government ultimately withheld the necessary travel permits. The decision comes as the city corporation continues to invest in domestic efforts to manage the insect population. Recently, the municipal body procured approximately 37.5 million taka worth of Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (BTI), an advanced biological larvicide, which is currently being deployed across the city to curb outbreaks.
