Plus Two students clean the Khandagiri foothills on Sunday. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, June 2: A team of 150 Plus Two students from 20 colleges, camping at Jayadev Vatika at the foothills of the historic Khandagiri, today launched a unique cleaning drive.

After the Jayadev Vatika, the students will clean other heritage sites such as Udayagiri caves, Lingaraj temple, Sisupalgarh fort, Dhauli and Mukteswar temple. This will give them practical knowledge about how to keep monuments clean.

The programme will end on June 7.

Deepika Sahu from Kalapathara Dhalapathara Anachalika Mahavidyalaya was happy that she could contribute in cleaning the campus of Jayadev Vatika.

“We have read about the historic monuments in the book. But we did not know the practical problems surrounding the monuments. We have seen polythene, food packets, papers and weeds lying here and there in Khandagiri. We will clean the garden and the historic Khandagiri hills in phases,’’ she said.

Shehalata Bhol from Janata College, Kuhuri, said: “The grassroots-level experience will help all the students think about alternative career options, especially taking up monument conservation studies in future. Only after reaching here I came to know the importance of this place as it is named after poet Jayadev.’’

The students have been selected for the seven-day camp by the National Service Scheme (NSS) of the Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE). The camp has 60 girls and 90 boys as participants. Apart from various daylong activities for cleaning the Khandagiri foothills, the students are also taking part in various cultural shows in the evening.

Ramesh Chandra Behera, NSS programme coordinator of the CHSE, said: “The programme at Jayadev Vatika has been named as ‘Kirtigourab’ to spread the knowledge of the cultural heritage of Odisha. The pilot programme will be replicated throughout all the NSS wings across the state so that our heritage structures have better surrounding through the shram dan of the students.’’

At the garden, the students will also work on fencing young saplings, repairing roads, digging holes for plantation and helping in beautification.

The garden has more than 200 medicinal plants.

Sujit Kumar Champati of Sanatan Harichandan Mahavidyalaya, Madanpur, felt that the outing was very helpful in teaching the students the importance of the cultural heritage treasure of Odisha.

“We are staying very close to these heritage sites, but we know very little about these. After the camp, I will try to collect more information on all these important monuments around Bhubaneswar,’’ he said.

Rakesh K. Pradhan of Banki Junior College said: “Through NSS we spread the message of selfless service for the country, but this camp with a focus on our ancient treasure and their importance has shown us a different way to explore.’’

Hrushikesh Routray, one of the camp coordinators, said: “The next camp will be held at Kendubilwa, a historic village near the city where Jayadev was born. The village has found its place in the tourism map of the state because of its association with Jayadev, who penned the Gita Govinda.