The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has invited bids for supply of about 10 million mosquito nets under its National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme. Environmentalists are protesting a requirement specified in the tender: the nets are to be wrapped in plastic sheets at the time of supply.
In March, the ministry had issued a tender asking for long-lasting, insecticide-treated nets. The bidding is scheduled on June 14. While the tender mentions that the bundles of the mosquito nets are to be wrapped in low density polythene film of 60µg (microgramme) thickness or “any other suitable material as agreed to between the purchaser and the supplier,” officials in the ministry state that plastic is preferred. They reason that once received the mosquito nets will not be immediately distributed and plastic would increase their shelf life.
