Exhorting the gram pradhans to wage a final war against the encephalitis Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that they should ensure swachchta in their village and issue do’s and don’ts for the villagers so that this menacing disease could be eradicated for once and all. Addressing people after inaugurating a free medical camp for the encephalitis patients organized in Deeksha Bhawan of Deein Dayal Upadhaya in Gorakhpur on Friday he said that gram pradhans can play a pivotal role in controlling this disease. “They (gram pradhans) can educate villagers as what they should do when first symptom of encephalitis appear. They should tell villagers that patients should be immediately taken to Community Health Centres (CHCs) and Primary Health Centres (PHCs) where treatment is available free of cost,” Yogi said. He also talked about the swachchta (cleanliness) programme’ the government has initiated in all the 38 endemic districts. The prevention is always better than cure. This dreaded disease can be prevented if the environment around villages is kept clean. This is possible because of public participation. The only mantra to control this dreaded disease is maintain cleanliness and provide better treatment to patient at the earliest, he said. Chief Minister said that 34 lakh children were vaccinated in 38 districts between April 2 and 30 and the same campaign will be repeated between July 2 and 30. Through vaccine one can prevent Japanese encephalitis (JE) but the AES (Acute Encephalitis Syndrom) can be cured only by keeping cleanliness around villages, he said. “Gram pradhans should ensure that villagers do not throw plastics in the drain pipes because these lead to chocking which become the breeding ground for several diseases. If the villages can be kept clean the number of encephalitis cases will drop this year,” Chief Minister said. Earlier in the day Chief Minister held a Janata darshan at Gorakhnath temple and redressed the problems of the masses. He also paid compensation of Rs 4 lakh each to the people who lost their family member in natural calamity.