Bhubaneswar, May 9: The civic body has planned to conduct special awareness drives ahead of the World Environment Day to be celebrated on June 5.

Through these drives, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation aims to sensitise people to adopt practices that will help to save the environment. The municipal corporation has decided to create awareness among its officials first, followed by the citizens in the next phase.

The ministry of urban development has issued directives to the civic body in this regard. The civic body has decided to conduct the drive in two parts. It will start the campaign by organising community lunch with its officials and it will also present awards to the municipal workers.

"The aim is to sensitise the officials first as they will ensure implementation of various initiatives at the ground-level. We need to appreciate their efforts because it will encourage them to work more efficiently," said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.

The civic body will also organise a mass gathering of the officials and administer the Swachhata Oath with a special focus on the ministry's mandate to begin source segregation of the waste material from June 5. The oath will also be administered to the citizens.

Each individual will pledge to segregate his (household, shop, establishment) waste in two dustbins, wet waste in green and dry waste in blue, as his contribution to the Swachh Bharat Mission. "We have already installed the dustbins in several parts of the city. environment_The Indian Red Cross Society has planned to organise mass rallies with hundreds of youth and junior Red Cross volunteers to spread awareness on saving the environment. "We will organise rallies to spread messages on saving environment. We will also undertake plantation drives," said an official of Indian Red Cross."It is high time to come together and take collaborative steps to save the environment. It cannot be achieved by a single entity. If we want to save our environment, each and every one of us needs to contribute to this. If we plant a tree, it is our duty to nurture it. We also need to follow safe practices to save environment," said environmentalist Alok Mohanty.