Bhubaneswar, Sept.17: Awareness campaigns and workshops on socially relevant issues are being held at several educational institutes of the city.

Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited, in collaboration with the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation and the United Nations Population Fund, has launched two interactive campaigns - 'Safe Campus Safe City' and 'Healthy Life, Healthy Style' across technical and higher education institutes in the city.

'This initiative has immense importance at a time when the threat from deadly online games has left youngsters susceptible and the campuses are also becoming vulnerable to different types of substance abuse,' said Bhubaneswar mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.

As part of the two campaigns, City Changer Labs are being organised in educational institutes where the students are being involved in a variety of activities such as poster design, skit competitions, yoga and aerobic sessions, self-defence training, symposiums, apart from counselling sessions by domain experts through workshops on contemporary topics such as substance abuse, women's safety, cyber crime, and crimes against women.

The city authorities aim to conduct activities on both the campaigns in over 80 higher education institutes in the city.

An awareness programme was recently hosted at Swosti Institute of Management and Social Studies on women's safety in the smart city.

Yesterday, a similar workshop on legal provisions to safeguard women's rights was conducted at KIIT Law School along with debates, slogan and poster competitions.

Snehanjali Mohanty, member of State Women's Commission, took part in these workshops and spoke on various legal provisions to safeguard women's rights, sexual harassment at the workplace, and various support services for girls and women facing gender-based violence.

During a similar workshop on mental health and substance abuse at the School of Nursing of Siksha 'O' Anusandhan University on Thursday, experts deliberated on various forms of drug abuse, symptoms and phases of addiction, stress and anxiety disorder, and the vulnerable age of youth.

The students and participants were sensitised on the role of peer groups, teachers and family members in overcoming the menace of substance abuse among youth. Experts from the field also asked the parents, teachers and the peers to be alert to spot symptoms of substance abuse, such as frequent irritation, eating disorder, sleeplessness, increased tendency to burrow or steal money and similar other suspicious activities.

During a workshop on healthy lifestyle conducted at ITER of Siksha 'O' Anusandhan University, senior nutritionist Madhusmita Tripathy deliberated on the importance of healthy food habits for students for leading a healthy life in future.