Students of Buckley Girls’ High School clean up the school premises to combat dengue menace. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, Aug. 26: Schoolchildren have joined the movement against dengue in the Millennium City. Today, students of Buckley Girls’ High School carried out a massive ‘cleanliness drive’ on their school campus to combat the menace.

Around 300 students of Class IX and X took the initiative to keep their school clean by carrying out a bush-cutting and clean-up drive.

“The only way we can stop dengue is by keeping our surroundings clean. Hence today, all the students came together to keep our school clean and mosquito-free,” said Shirin Begun, a Class IX student.

“Today, we launched the drive against dengue and this will encourage other students to conduct similar campaigns in their schools,” said Gayatri Behera, another student.

The initiative came following a directive by the district administration to involve school students to keep their respective schools clean.

“We had got instruction from the district administration to carry out a cleanliness drive in our school from today. A number of students voluntarily joined the movement, which will help put a check on the mosquito menace,” said headmistress Nandika Naik.

“Our prime objective is to educate the children about the benefits of keeping our surrounding clean. From this, the students can also play a crucial role in keeping their homes and neighbourhood clean,” said Arjun Pati, a teacher.

District administration officials said a massive cleanliness operation had been launched along with the officials of Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) in the city.

Unwanted growth of vegetation has been checked in a number of wards under the corporation limits. Emphasis was also being given to intensify the ongoing cleanliness drive in the coming days.

A long-term action plan to combat the mosquito menace was also being prepared in which stress would be given on clearing weeds and sanitising the water bodies including ponds that are the breeding sites for mosquitoes.

“Adequate measures have been taken to combat the dengue menace by launching a cleanliness drive in the city. Similarly, steps were also being taken to create awareness among people about keeping their surroundings clean,” said a CMC official.

Efforts have also been initiated to ensure that there was no accumulation of water in vacant private, government and land belonging to various departments. All the government institutions have also been asked to carry out cleanliness drive on their respective premises, the official added.