Bhubaneswar: A one-day workshop on ‘Smart and Resilient Bhubaneswar’ was organised by Humara Bachpan Trust at Jaydev Bhawan here Tuesday. The event was attended by 400 participants which included children, women and youth from 187 slums of Bhubaneswar.
The objective of conducting the event was to create awareness among communities on the man-made disasters and how to remain prepared for tackling such untoward situations.
Prior to the main event, painting competitions on the theme ‘Building Resilience’ and a 3D model competition titled ‘Best out of waste’ was conducted where 840 children from 28 government schools and 187 slums participated.
Minister of Women and Child Development Prafulla Samal who was the chief guest of the event inaugurated the exhibition. “Childhood is a very crucial period and during this period children can contribute immensely to the society”, said the minister. Further, he spoke about various schemes of the government like providing land entitlements to slum dwellers and basic amenities like metered electricity connections, individual household and community toilets and 24/7 water connections. Founder of the trust Dharitri Patnaik said, “Awareness and implementation for a smart and resilient city has to happen at ground zero in our homes, communities and neighbourhoods.”
Towards the end of the event, the children took an oath to keep the environment clean and make their neighbourhoods plastic-free zones.
David Stein and Achva Stein from University of California, Sital Palbabu, head of governance and program, Action Aid Myanmar and Soumya Mishra from Bhubaneswar urban knowledge centre were among the several dignitaries who were present at the event.