For unclean environment:

Notice issued on 346

Lakshmi de Silva

The Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) in collaboration with police and Civil Defence Force volunteers conducted shramadana campaigns in 15 dengue high risk areas of the city during the weekend.

They also cleaned the areas of Fort railway station, Gunasinghepura bus stand, Manning market Pettah, Thotalanga, Maligawatta, Gothamipurawatta, Sahasrapura ,Vanathamulla, Serpentine canal and police stations in Kollupitiya, Bambalapitiya, Wellawatte and Maradana.

The CMC had also covered 37 grama niladhari divisions out of 55 and had issued notices to 346 persons asking them to clean their environments immediately, CMC Chief Medical Officer Pradeep Kariyawasam told the Daily News yesterday.

During the weekend, the CMC had also checked 18,645 premises with 1,100 people participating in the exercise.

This would continue in other 18 grama niladhari divisions next weekend, he said. Immediate action had been taken to check people who had been given notice and if they had violated the notices, they would be prosecuted Kariyawasam said.

CMC Commissioner Badrani Jayawardhana said the anti-dengue campaign was started in January. "Now it had joined hands with the Police and Civil Defence Force to eradicate the mosquito menace. CMC employees worked day and night during the weekend to clear heaps of garbage and people who violate the law would be dealt under the new laws", she said.

There are 600,000 people living in the Colombo city while another 700,000 people enter the city daily. Therefore 1.3 million people had to be protected and it was everyone's responsibility to keep their own environment clean, Jayawardhana said.

The Education Ministry yesterday launched a dengue eradication program in all schools to clean up places where mosquitoes could breed.