To curb pollution, organisers cut Ravana’s size down

NOIDA: The Ramlila organising committees in the city have decided to cut down the sizes of larger-than-life effigies of demon king Ravana, his son Meghnad and brother

NOIDA: The Ramlila organising committees in the city have decided to cut down the sizes of larger-than-life effigies of demon king Ravana, his son Meghnad and brother Kumbhkaran this year. They have also decided to burn the fourth symbolic effigy of ‘pollution and corruption’, along with these demons.

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Subhash Sharma, general secretary of Shri Sanatan Dharma Ramlila Committee at Noida Stadium in Sector 21, said that since ‘no to plastic’ is the theme of this year’s Durga puja, the organisers have decided to make smaller effigies of demons. “How long will we burn effigies of mythological demons? Now, the demons of polythene, garbage and corruption have overpowered the mythological demons. Time has come when we must put bigger effigies of these social evils than the ancient demons,” he said.

Corroborating similar view, Raghavendra Dubey of the Shriram Lakhan Dharmik Leela Committee in Sector 46 said that since this year’s Ramlila is completely green, they will keep another symbolic effigy, besides the demons, which will represent pollution and corruption. “All the effigies will be made of bio-degradable items like husk, jute and bamboos. Pollution and corruption are the real Ravana and other demons of present time. We are appealing to the masses in each show of Ramlila that they must first get rid of these modern age demons and give up the use of plastic in any case,” he said.

The general secretary of Shriram Mitra Mandal Ramlila Committee of Sector 62, Munna Kumar Sharma, said that creating awareness among the people against the social evils is the main motto of this year’s Ramlila. “We will put three effigies of terrorism, corruption and women oppression, besides 70-foot’s Ravana, 65-foot Kumbhkaran and 60-foot Meghnad, which will be set afire simultaneously. After all, Dussehra commemorates the victory of good over evil,” he said.