BHUBANESWAR: A special sanitation drive got underway in Bhubaneswar on
Wednesday. The cleaning drive, which will continue for 15 days, was
jointly inaugurated by new BMC commissioner Sanjib Kumar Mishra and
mayor A N Jena. On the first day, intensive drain and road cleaning
activities were carried out in 26, 32, 33 and 34 wards. “All the 60
wards will be covered in the drive,” Mishra said.

Sources said
the health department has provided 125 volunteers to BMC for the job.
The event will serve dual purposes-spreading awareness about environment
and sensitizing people about steps to prevent malaria, filaria and dengue. Resident welfare associations and schoolchildren would be involved in the drive.

Volunteers would distribute leaflets among people to keep the
environment clean. Thrust of the sanitation drive would be cleaning of
drains. Now, all eyes are on the continuation of the drive as the BMC
discontinued the much-vaunted “clean Bhubaneswar” campaign in the past.
Though chief minister Naveen Patnaik had inaugurated the campaign in Saheed Nagar last year, it did not move ahead thereafter.