Rourkela: Even as low pressure-triggered rain this year spoilt Diwali mood at several places in the state, a large group of people here preferred to shun noise and smoke Thursday.
The death of a youth and destruction of crackers worth crores of rupees in fire mishap at a cracker market in the city just a day before Diwali made them take the decision, it was learnt.
Members of some social organisations were seen requesting citizens not to burst high-sound crackers. Bursting of such crackers not only troubles elderly persons, animals also do suffer due to noise, its members pointed out.
Activists of Ashra, a city-based NGO, went to Nirmala Munda Sevashram, an orphanage of Chhend area and spent time with its inmates. They tried to bring smiles on the lips of 105 orphan kids by distributing sweets and lighting lamps. “Children living in sevashram badly miss their parents and this forced us to do something for their happiness,” chief of the NGO Minati Devata said.
Similarly, members of SPARK urged people through a road show not to burst crackers generating deafening sound. Many animals die due to high-decibel sound while senior citizens suffer because of the noise.
SPARK’s member Shubhashri Nayak said it is time everyone realized that crores of rupees go up in smoke in a few minutes for temporary pleasure. Worse, bursting of crackers kills hundreds of birds and animals in just one night, she added urging people to stay away from such practice. Sanjay Nayak, Himanshu Nayak, Priyanka Chandrakar, Amrit Pradhan, Chandan Jha and Abhijit Ghosh were part of the campaign.
Some local youths distributed sweets and cut cakes at a shelter home for children instead of bursting crackers. They also collected clothes for inmates and distributed these among them, said Samir Patnaik and Sumit Singh to the media.
“The loss of life of a youth and reduction of a cracker market into ashes moved us and we decided to celebrate the festival in a different manner,” the duo said.
Sridhar Senapati, Satyajit Sarangi, Ashis Singh and Babu Khan of the area joined the two at the shelter home. PNN
