Ravan-dehan to be ‘less painful’ this time

Nikhil Bhardwaj

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Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, October 5

To prevent the rising level of pollution during Dasehra celebrations in the industrial hub of the state, several dasehra committees in the city have come up with a novel idea to lessen the use of fire crackers this time. They will use few crackers in effigies of demons this time to curb pollution.

Though discouraging the rising pollution level is one of the foremost causes behind this initiative, the escalating cost of fireworks and making effigies of demons, too, has forced them to take this step.

Ludhiana Tribune spoke to several dasehra committee presidents. They said their initiative, no doubt, would bring down the pollution levels to some extent, but if residents in the entire city resort to this practice on Diwali as well, pollution level could be reduced to a great extent.

Charanjit Singh Channi, president of Shri Dasehra Committee Upkar Nagar, said their committee had been celebrating dasehra for past 32 years and this time they have decided to limit the use of crackers, the cost of which has also escalated. “We will limit the use of crackers to be fitted inside the effigies of Ravana. Even fireworks display will be curtailed which will help us in curbing pollution,” he said.

He said, even the cost of making Ravana’s effigy, which was around Rs 65,000 last year, had risen to Rs 85,000 now. Their initiative of using less crackers, would now help the committee in controlling the expenses, he added.

Brij Mohan Kalia, president of the Dasehra Committee Raj Guru Nagar, said: “Every year, the cost of effigy-making or other expenses of the committee rise by 10 to 15 per cent. Now, this time, we have decided to curtail the use of crackers for effigy making and for fireworks display by 50 per cent. This will lessen our budget and also help in curtailing the rising pollution.”

Ashwani Gupta, president of BRS Nagar Dasehra Committee, too, echoed the same views and said their committee would also minimise the use of crackers to diminish the pollution level this time.