Students to take oath to shun firecrackers

With Navratri coming soon, anti-noise pollution activists are gearing up to fight the noise pollution battle with the help of school students. Nikhil M Ghanekar reports.

With Navratri coming soon, anti-noise pollution activists are gearing up to fight the noise pollution battle with the help of school students.

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The Marathi Vidnyan Parishad (MVP), a society that propagates science, and the Anti-Noise Pollution Committee, Mumbai, will ask students to pledge their support to the anti-noise campaign by asking them to shun firecrackers.

"Students need to be taught that noise pollution is a health hazard. Asking them to take this oath is a way of spreading awareness," said Dr Yeshwant Oke, founder and secretary, Anti-Noise Pollution Committee.

The oath will be published in Patrika, the MVP's monthly magazine, and also distributed across Marathi-medium schools. The oath against noise pollution will be sent to schools in other cities as well.

The oath states: "Bursting and lighting firecrackers causes tremendous noise and air pollution. Noise pollution increases blood pressure and allied illnesses like heart attacks and strokes. I personally will not light or burst firecrackers."