Cleanliness drive to continue across country every Saturday: Land Minister

Land Minister Mizanur Rahman Minu has said that cleanliness activities will continue across the country every Saturday.

He made these remarks as the chief guest at the inauguration ceremony of a cleanliness programme organised by the district administration at Ganggapara canal adjacent to Baya Bridge in Paba upazila on Saturday morning to prevent dengue and other mosquito-borne diseases.

Land Minister Mizanur Rahman Minu urged everyone to take awareness and preventive measures to protect against dengue and chikungunya.

He said, "To prevent dengue and chikungunya, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has announced a regular weekly cleanliness drive or 'Cleanliness Drive' across the country from March 14. With that goal in mind, emphasis has been placed on keeping homes, courtyards, drains and reservoirs clean to destroy Aedes mosquito breeding grounds in Rajshahi before the monsoon season."

Minister Minu further stated that such programmes do not require any lavish arrangements, stages or balloon releases. Maintaining a clean environment requires collective initiative from everyone. Keeping rivers and canals clean regularly can prevent dengue and various mosquito-borne diseases.

On this day, despite having the opportunity, the minister did not use any stage or microphone and no balloons were released.

Advocate Shafiqul Haque Milon, Member of Parliament from Rajshahi-3 Paba constituency, said, "We ourselves must clean the jungles accumulated over the past 17 years. More important than debating who created the jungle is cleaning it now. Keeping rivers and canals clean is essential for disease prevention. This cleanliness campaign has been started to prevent the breeding grounds of dengue-carrying Aedes mosquitoes. Maintaining cleanliness and increasing public awareness are extremely crucial for dengue prevention."

The programme to destroy Aedes mosquito breeding grounds and prevent dengue was organised by the Rajshahi district administration, with overall cooperation from the upazila administration and Nohatta municipality.

Divisional Commissioner and Rajshahi City Corporation Administrator Dr A N M Bazlur Rashid presided over the inaugural event. District Commissioner Afia Akhtar, Police Superintendent Mohammad Naimul Haque, and officials from government and private institutions were present. Upazila Executive Officer and Nohatta Municipal Administrator Mohammad Mehedi Hasan provided overall cooperation.

It is noteworthy that on Wednesday, March 11, in a special video message, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman urged the people of the country to take awareness and preventive measures to protect against dengue and chikungunya. In continuation of that, the weekly Saturday cleanliness campaign has been launched across the country from today.