To spread the message of celebrating eco-friendly Diwali this year, the UT Department of Environment is organising ‘Anti-Cracker Campaign 2014’ across the city. The Department of Environment in collaboration with Department of Education is organising the week long Anti Cracker Campaign-2014, for which a schedule of activities has been circulated to all eco clubs.
As a part of the campaign, an ‘Eco-Friendly Diwali’ was celebrated at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 46 here where school students took ‘oath’ of not bursting crackers during Diwali celebrations.An ‘Anti Cracker Rally’ was also organised by the students and later, ‘Rangoli’ was prepared by the students.
Santosh Kumar, Director, UT Environment Department said, “The basic idea of organising this ‘Anti Cracker Campaign -2014’ is to have synergic effect and to provide maximum impact regarding awareness for not using fire cracker in Diwali season.”On this occasion, the UT Department exhorted the students to carry on the message of ‘No Fire Cracker this Season’ to their neighbourhood so as to celebrate pollution free Diwali.
Notably, the “Green Diwali” campaign in Chandigarh went for a toss last year as the city had witnessed a noisier and most polluted Diwali as compared to the previous years. The Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM) had exceeded the permissible limits in all the areas and was much higher in 2013 than the previous year’s Diwali.
The maximum air pollution was recorded in Sector 22 while minimum air pollution was found in City Centre Sector 17. As per the data observed last year, the RSPM levels of 450 µg/m3 at Sector 22, 409 µg/m3 in Sector 29 and 165 µg/m3 in Sector 17 was registered on the day of Diwali last year.And, higher noise level of 77.5 decibel was recorded in Sector 29 from 9 pm to 10 pm this Diwali. In previous 2012, the noise pollution level was 75.9 decibel in Sector 29 at the same time.