Delhi battles to clear vermin before athletes arrive

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - While the anti-corruption watchdogs smell a proverbial rat in the construction works, a veterinary team has been assigned the job of removing the actual rodents from the Commonwealth Games venues by mid-September.

Equipped with 600 traps and 100kg of rodenticides, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) taskforce will carry out the operation at all 11 venues in an attempt to remove the rodents, a common pest in the city.

"We are waiting for the rat traps and the rodenticides to reach us," MCD spokesman Deep Mathur told Reuters Wednesday.

"A 90-member team of veterinary workers has been set up and if required, we would press more people into service.

"The trapped rats will be released in the Ridge area of the city."

As well as rats, mosquitoes are also keeping MCD on its toes with the city recording more than 275 cases of dengue fever since June.

The pest problem is a fresh headache for the organisers of the October 3-14 Games, who are already battling corruption charges.

Local media alleged stagnant pools at construction sites had become breeding grounds for mosquitoes and an MCD official told reporters Monday the number of hand-operated fogging machines had been doubled in the Games Village area.

However, Mathur said people should not panic.

"MCD is doing everything that is possible and we have a large team working on it."

(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty; Editing by John O'Brien)