River expedition to spread awareness on polio

The unit members during their stay in riverside villages at night will hold meetings with people and distribute material on polio eradication,hygiene,and AIDS.

As per the plan,30 NCC cadets including 10 girls will use two 27 ft long manually-rowed boats of 1130 kg,said B Bhattacharya,command officer of 3 UP NCC Naval Unit,Lucknow.

Bhattacharya said,it will be a challenge for the team accompanied by two Naval officers to execute the expedition downstream.

The team during its stay in villages at night will organise ‘nukkar nataks’ and also hold meetings with the villagers to spread the message. While girls will separately meet women groups in the villages,boys will hold meetings with men to spread the message of hygiene and cleanliness and also about need to eradicate Polio.

Bhattacharya said cadets’ team has undergone training on polio eradication and basic methods of ensuring hygiene and cleanliness by UNICEF. The cadets have also taken a rigorous one-month training in rowing the boat downstream for such a long time.

The expedition will be launched at Pipra Ghat in Lucknow and culminate at Goolar Ghat in Jaunpur district. The team members have also been provided awareness material for distribution among villagers during their stay there.