With 16 deaths in the city due to leptospirosis in the last 10 days alone, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has upped its efforts to control the rodent menace in the city. However, even as it gears to use the Rs 17 crore budget allocated for the same, it seems providing safety gear to its workers is not a priority. Midday found on Saturday, that Class IV employees who were on the streets placing rat poison did not have gloves, masks or gumboots, exposing them not only to leptospirosis, but also zinc phosphide poisoning.

Also read: Two more Mumbaikars die of leptospirosis