Berhampur: Hundreds of students of different colleges and schools in in Odisha’s Berhampur led by Aryabhatta E&N Foundation have taken a pledge to avoid bursting firecrackers during Diwali on November 12.
Renowned environmentalist Sudhir Rout, known as the ‘Green Man of Odisha’, administered the oath to the students to refrain from bursting crackers and asked them to persuade others to follow them.
The students took the oath – “I promise not to burn or burst fire crackers. I will persuade others not to burn fire crackers. My environment is my right. I will not pollute nor will I allow others to pollute it. I will protect my environment for the sake of my own future”.
We must refrain ourselves from all traditional activities like bursting of crackers and playing with other fireworks during Diwali, said Sudhir Rout.
At the place of use of crackers and fireworks suspended particulate matter and toxic gasses will make the air polluted and cause allergic phenomena of the respiratory tract. Persons with pre-existing chronic airway diseases like Bronchial Asthma, COPD, Bronchiectasis etc. will easily flare up which may in turn reduce the local immunity of the airway and lungs, he said.
Air Quality Index (AQI) falls rapidly on and after Diwali. Birds are found dead following Diwali and sometimes the sound and the toxic air turns fatal even for the people, Sudhir said. One can live without food and water for days together, but not beyond a few minutes without fresh air. “If a single day and event can pollute the air, can’t we celebrate the festival without crackers,” he wondered.
The fireworks will leave the city’s ambient air irrevocably polluted with heavy metals. The low-decibel colourful light-emitting fireworks also cause greater air pollution than the fire crackers.
