Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has directed all the government office bearers to report on duty on Sunday (today) and play their respective roles against the dengue virus. In a statement issued here on Saturday, Shahbaz Sharif said that no compromise would be tolerated regarding protection of precious lives and strict action would be taken against those officials found guilty of negligence towards performance of the duties. He said that all necessary arrangements have been made to observe “Anti-Dengue Day” and he was personally monitoring the situation in this regard. The chief minister added that seminars, workshops and walks would be held on the occasion to observe to create awareness among the public about the disease.
In line with CM’s directive, Punjab Higher Education Department (HED)has devised an action plan regarding anti-dengue day under which all public and private sector educational institutions will remain open on September 2. All subordinate offices of HED will strictly observe the instructions issued by Higher Education Department and S&GAD regarding dengue. A spokesman of HED informed that meetings of parents and teachers will be held in connection with Anti-Dengue Day and walks will be arranged in big cities for creating awareness about the virus. Teachers, volunteers, public representatives and common people will participate in these walks. Posters and banners will be displayed in educational institutions and roadside camps. Special desks will be set up at various places for distribution of pamphlets which would educate participants on safeguard measures to be adopted against dengue.
Educational institutions would also hold seminars and workshops in which health professionals would train and participants on identifying dengue larvae. It has been made mandatory on all students to wear full-sleeves shirts from Monday onwards. Heads of educational institutions, Director of Education (Colleges), Deputy Director (Colleges) and principals of all government and private colleges have been advised to remove waste junks, pools of stagnant water and debris from their jurisdictions in collaboration with City District Government and Solid Waste Management Company.
