Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on Saturday urged young people to take the lead in preventing dengue, protecting the environment and keeping the country clean and green, saying efforts to build a clean and healthier Bangladesh for future generations must begin now.

“You will run this country in the future. So, we must start working now to build a beautiful, clean and healthy Bangladesh for the next generation,” he said.

The prime minister made the call while addressing members of the Bangladesh National Cadet Corps (BNCC) and Scouts during a visit to Mirpur Bangla College in the capital.

Tarique said Bangladesh is a densely populated country, particularly in Dhaka, where keeping the city clean is a major challenge.

However, the prime minister said, it is possible through collective efforts.

He said young people should not limit their cleanliness activities to organised programmes but also take initiatives on their own and encourage their friends, relatives and neighbours to keep their surroundings clean.

Highlighting the close link between cleanliness and public health, the prime minister said people are more likely to remain healthy when their homes and surroundings are clean, while an unhygienic environment increased the risk of various diseases.

“If so many people fall ill, it will be difficult to arrange enough doctors and medicines to treat everyone. So, our first task is to keep people healthy. And to keep people healthy, we must keep the environment clean,” he said.

Stressing the importance of cleanliness in preventing dengue, Tarique said many people are infected with the disease every year and some die from it.

“Destroying mosquito breeding grounds and keeping homes and their surroundings clean are among the most effective ways to prevent dengue,” he said.

The prime minister said the government is placing special emphasis on conducting cleanliness drives every Saturday until November as part of its dengue prevention efforts.

He urged people to keep the areas around their homes, schools, colleges, workplaces and other institutions clean, particularly by ensuring that water did not accumulate anywhere.

Tarique also called for an end to the practice of dumping waste on roads, in canals, rivers and other water bodies, saying accumulated rubbish pollute the environment and created favourable conditions for the spread of germs and mosquito breeding.

Urging BNCC and Scouts members to raise public awareness, he said they should try to explain the importance of cleanliness to anyone found throwing rubbish on the street and help them dispose of it in designated places if necessary.

“Remember, you are working not just for yourselves but for the benefit of everyone,” the prime minister said.

Expressing concern over Dhaka’s air pollution, Tarique said the capital often ranked among the world’s most polluted cities, which he described as embarrassing.

He said protecting the environment required planting more trees as well as other measures.

Recalling his past tree-planting initiatives, the prime minister said around 80,000 neem saplings have been planted in Dhaka alone in 2004-05 through an organisation established in his father’s name.

Addressing the students, he said they should surpass his efforts by planting even more trees. “Now you have to go beyond me. You will plant more trees. InshaAllah, you can do it.”

The prime minister also recalled the history of neem trees on Saudi Arabia’s Arafat plain.

He said the area had once been almost treeless before then-President Ziaur Rahman sent neem saplings there.

Neem was selected on the advice of Bangladeshi scientists because it was suitable for Saudi Arabia’s climate, he said, adding that the trees later spread across the area and became known as “Zia trees”.

Citing Japan as an example of cleanliness, Tarique said its streets have very little rubbish, partly because people have developed the habit of not littering, rather than relying solely on cleaning services.

He stressed the need to keep rivers, canals and other water bodies clean and prevent water and environmental pollution. “People should stop throwing plastic bottles, polythene bags, food packets and other waste indiscriminately.”

The prime minister said collective efforts by BNCC and Scouts members and other citizens could help build a better Bangladesh.

“The future belongs to you. You will run this country,” he said.

Tarique visited Mirpur Bangla College as part of his surprise visits to hospitals and educational institutions to assess the dengue situation and cleanliness activities.