Environment Day celebrated with fervor in city

Bhubaneswar residents and various organisations celebrated World Environment Day recently by holding various programmes and conducting activities like planting trees and distributing saplings and cleaning the surroundings.
The East Coast Railway also observed the day on its campus. Around 375 East Coast Railway employees and volunteers of Bharat Scout and Guides participated in an awareness drive to sensitise people about environmental issues, especially the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, to mark the day.These youngsters also did a prabhat pheri and organised a painting competition to create awareness about a pollution-free environment, where a large number of children took part.

The officials also urged the employees to contribute in their own ways to reduce pollution and work for betterment of the environment. Senior officials, including the ECoR additional general manager Sudhir Kumar, conducted a plantation drive. They planted saplings inside the railway campus, which had lost several trees in the recent cyclone. The ECoR also has been trying to keep the stations and railway premises clean and hygienic by putting more bio-toilets, provision for plastic bottle crushing machines and regular cleanliness drives on trains and station premises.
The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) also observed the day by conducting cleanliness and plantation drives. They also conducted raids at various shops to check use of plastic bags, which have been banned in the city since last year. BMC had been take strict action against shops selling stuff in plastic bags, but the work had slowed down after the cyclone. On World Environment Day, they conducted the drive again by forming squads.
Several NGOs and private and government institutions also observed the day by either planting trees or distributing saplings among participants. Actress Anu Choudhury, who was part of one such drive, told us, “It’s our duty to protect our environment and that can be possible by planting more trees.”