Rawalpindi - Like other parts of province, anti-dengue day was observed in the city yesterday.

In this regard, various activities including seminars, walks, cleaning of government offices, different areas and removal of solid waste were held.

TMA Rawal Town organised a seminar and a walk for creating awareness about anti-dengue steps and measures and efforts of the government departments for controlling dengue.

MNA Begum Tahira Aurangzaib, PML (N ) leader Sardar Naseem, Haji Pervaiz Khan, Malik Shakeel Awan, Zia Ullah Shah, MPAs Raja Hanif Advocate, Malik Iftikhar Ahmed, Lubna Rehan, Tehseen Fawad, and Zaibun Nisa Awan, DCO Rawalpindi Tallat Mehmood Gondal, Administrator TMA/ADC(G) Nazia Perveen Sudhan, EDO (Education) Qazi Zahoor UlHaq, DO Civil Defence Sanjeeda Khanam, officers of various government departments and a large number of people attended the seminar and walk to mark the anti-dengue day and highlight the steps and precautionary measures to control dengue effectively.

Addressing the anti-dengue seminar of TMA Rawal Town, MNA Begum Tahira Aurrangzaib said that the government departments and citizens should join hands to control dengue and implement anti-dengue measures along with adopting necessary precautions in this respect. She added that the objective of observing anti-dengue day is to make the people aware of measures to control dengue along with involving them to play active role in this respect by maintaining environment in and around their houses neat and clean. She said that Chief Minister Punjab Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif took very effective and coordinative efforts in all districts of Punjab wherever dengue spread during previous years and the same practice of the previous years is still going on with the spirit of fighting against the dengue.

MPA Raja Hanif Advocate addressing on this occasion underlined the need for maintaining the environment in the whole city neat and clean along with ensuring lifting of solid waste, cleanliness and removal of rainy water from low-lying areas.

Sardar Naseem on this occasion said that effective measures have been ensured for checking and controlling dengue in Rawalpindi and elected representatives of local bodies have also been engaged in anti-dengue campaign.

DCO Rawalpindi Tallat Mehmood Gondal said that efforts have been initiated to control dengue at the early stage of current monsoon rains. He added that dozens of FIRs have been lounged against trade centres, tyre shops, hotels, and commercial centres and industrial units wherein dengue larva was found and people were not properly giving attention towards taking anti-dengue steps. He further said that all SOPs set for the controlling of dengue by the government would be implemented very strictly and negligence on part of anyone would not be ignored.

Other speakers highlighted the steps necessary for controlling dengue. Later, an anti-dengue awareness walk was held on Liaqat Road.

Similarly, a seminar was held in Industrial Home of social welfare department in Shamsabad.

Likewise, a walk was also held in Khayaban-e-Sir Syed under the auspices of health department.

Separately, the anti-dengue day was observed at Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi (PMAS-AAUR). A walk and a seminar were arranged at university to raise awareness about the dengue. The seminar was organised by the department of entomology, PMAS-AAUR, and was attended by all academic heads, faculty members, staff and students of the university.

PMAS-AAUR, Vice Chancellor (VC) Prof Dr Rai Niaz Ahmad was the chief guest on the occasion. He said that awareness played a key role in fight against dengue because prevention is far better than cure. He stressed upon the need to promote awareness about the dengue fever in all segments of society especially among the students, enabling them to curb the menace of the dengue fever in the society. He said that it is the responsibility of every citizen to play his role for controlling dengue and protecting citizens from this dangerous disease by adopting all precautionary measures.

He directed the chairpersons to personally monitor cleanliness regarding dengue and make necessary arrangements regarding disposal of waste material, condemned articles and debris of construction material.