By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, June 4: On Saturday, the Women’s Wing of Jail Road Welfare Association organised an art competition on the theme “Only One Earth” for children from KG to Class 8 as a prelude to World Environment Day, which falls on June 5 every year. In the evening, a prize distribution ceremony was organised at the Sikdar Memorial Hall in the same locality.
On the occasion, Ankur Das, who has just cleared the Civil Services Examination and was ranked 52nd, was also felicitated by the Welfare Committee. Retired Prof Abhijit Choudhury paid glowing tributes to Ankur for his persistence and commitment towards clearing the exam in his fifth attempt, which he said very few would have persevered.
Prof Choudhury urged the young IAS aspirants to emulate the dedication shown by Ankur as the country requires a band of dedicated civil servants to serve the country at a time when it was in its growth trajectory.
Earlier, Bahunlang Mukhim, Assistant Commissioner Food Safety, who was invited to give out the prizes to the winners of a certain category, encouraged the students especially to be vigilant about not discarding wrappers etc. but to stitch a small cloth bag to keep these wrapping and to dispose them at the dustbins or bin them at home. Mukhim also urged the members of the audience to shun plastic as they are the biggest hazards to the environment.
Deputy Commissioner East Khasi Hills Isawanda Laloo, who also gave out the prizes, said that World Environment Day should not be a one-day affair. However, it is a day to remind ourselves of the precarious situation that the world is in today and how we all have a duty to reduce carbon emissions to offset climate change. “The blame game over the environment should end whilst joint endeavours should be initiated to fight for a green future,” Laloo stated, adding that from July 1 this year, the government will enforce the ‘Say no to single-use plastics’ campaign following which the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board (MSPCB) will ban the use of single-use plastics.
Touching upon how detrimental single-use plastics are to the environment, Laloo said, “Climate change is a reality. We know what is happening to our oceans all around us. We don’t even have to look far. We can see what is happening to our rivers, terrains, streets and forests,” adding that this is not the time to point fingers but to work in tandem towards addressing the environmental concerns.
She also maintained that schoolchildren should also be taught about the green cause so that they can start young and eventually become the change-makers.
Laloo also used the occasion to pay tribute to Ankur Das and his parents saying, “We in the fraternity were all so excited when we heard the news and since you have scored so well we are sure you will be allotted the home cadre.” She also warned Ankur that the training is tough and narrated her own experiences of mountaineering and waking up early morning to run several kilometres. “This training our mentors and trainers said is important to toughen us for the challenges ahead and I am sure you will come out on top even in this,” Laloo said.
The DC of East Khasi Hills also thanked Jiwat Vaswani and Kishen Tibrewala both from the hospitality industry and both supportive of the green cause. Vaswani has said that any student who can write on what he/she has done for the environment would be given a prize from the Jiva hospitality group.
All the participants were also given a sapling to plant at their home.
Earlier, the Editor, The Shillong Times, Patricia Mukhim, while distributing the prizes to the winners said that all who participated in the art competition on this important theme are winners. She lauded the participants but told them to remember that the environment needs care every single day and humans have to be aware of how much damage they have done to the environment.
She spoke of Operation Clean-Up which is engaged in cleaning rivers and planting trees, she enthused all to join the team.
President, Jail Road Welfare Committee, Shantanu Dey, who is also Headman of Jail Road, welcomed the guests and prize winners and Pinaki Das felicitated Ankur Das.