| INSECTS, insects everywhere. In the corridor, on his front door, inside his flat. Not in small numbers, but in their thousands.  | | -- KELVIN CHNG | Since August, that's the scene which greets Mr Puven Anandham, 30, every evening when he comes home from work. The insects, called chironomid midges, have been bugging Yishun residents. Mr Puven, a navy officer, said there were nights when the door of his flat was covered with them. His 3-year-old son was so scared that he refused to go in. Mr Puven lives with his wife and son at Block 411, Yishun Ring Road. He said: 'There were so many of them that I didn't dare open the door. They were wriggling on the door. 'We didn't know at first if they were harmful and whether they would sting. In the end, I plucked up the courage and quickly carried my son in.' This is believed to be the first time such an influx of the insects have occurred here. Forty blocks of flats in the Nee Soon East constituency have been affected, according to Mr Sam Sim from the Sembawang Town Council. Mr Sim, the property manager at the town council, added that four breeding grounds had been uncovered in the vicinity since August. (See report on right.) But these insects do not sting, nor do they carry diseases. Still, they had become such a nuisance that some residents took matters into their own hands. Mr Sim said that the town council knew of three residents, including Mr Puven, who had removed the light bulbs along the common corridor - in the hope that the insects would not be attracted to their flats.
LIMITING THEIR LIGHT  | | -- KELVIN CHNG | Mr Puven said that they would also fly into his flat and rest on the ceiling, windows and walls. 'My floor would be covered with dead insects and my wife would have to sweep and mop the floor every few hours,' he said. 'I was so frustrated that I removed the light bulb outside my flat, but the town council replaced it.' Mr Puven said it was too stuffy to close all the windows. So the family now switches on only a few lights at night. But there is little respite from the insects. 'My son has to study so I have to keep the lights on. And we can't watch television in the dark, so we have to bear with insects flying around me when we're at home,' said Mr Puven. The town council has been flooded by calls from residents - so much so that it put up notices at void decks assuring them that the insects do not carry diseases. It added that the insects are closely related to mosquitoes. They breed in slow water channels and adult insects have a lifespan of two days. They die after mating and laying eggs. Chironomids often occur in huge swarms, usually in the evening. Another resident, Madam See Ah Cheo, 52, a seamstress who lives at Block 437, Yishun Avenue 6, now shuts her windows and door promptly at 7pm. She said: 'That's when the lights are turned on and the insects will fly here in swarms. 'They will rest on the floors, ceilings and walls of the corridors and my three school-going daughters don't even dare to step out of the house at night.' Madam See said that her flat gets stuffy and so, she turns on a fan in each room. 'It's usually very windy if I open the windows... But now, I rather close all windows when night falls. It's still better than having my whole flat littered with dead insects the next morning,' she said. | 
