Md Babar Ali Sheikh, the KCC employee, is the inventor. He would come back home from work and carry on research in this regard every day. Babar, who hails from Kharabad Baintola of Botiaghata, could not finish high school.
Locals feel disturbed by the loud sound of the fogger imported from abroad, which gives an impression that “cannons are being used to kill mosquitoes”.
On the other hand, Babar’s ‘easy fogger’ is not noisy at all. The smoke it produces is similar to fogger machines that cost Tk 1.5 lakh. Besides, petrol, dry-cell battery and oil to kill mosquitoes or ‘Mortein oil’ is being used in the imported fogger. One litre of petrol and five litres of ‘Mortein oil’ are needed to operate the fogger machine for 30 to 45 minutes.
However, in Babar’s ‘easy fogger’, two litres of ‘Mortein oil’ and 200ml LP gas are all that is needed to operate the fogger for up to 45 minutes, and it produces the same amount of smoke.
People call it ‘Babar’s easy fogger’. Babar used pump, great valve, compressor meter, LP gas cylinder and SS material for his innovative fogging machine.
Md Alamgir Gazi, who operates foggers for the Khulna City Corporation, said: “Our foggers are very heavy. They produce loud noise, and the machines become hot during use. Vibration produced by the machines makes it tough to work continuously. The machines cannot be operated for a long time.”
Md Babar Ali Sheikh, inventor of the fogger machine, said it took him two months to make this machine. “The idea came to me while I used to repair conventional fogger machines that need a lot of money for repair and maintenance,” he said.
The conventional machines cannot be operated properly because of the loud noise and their heavy weight. Besides, at times the fogger machines catch fire while operating.
“My fogger machine weighs only 5-6kg, half that of the conventional fogger machines,” he said.
“It cost me about Tk 16,000 to make the easy fogger machine. I’ll be able to make even better and effective machine if I get funding.”