Children in 10 slums of the city have come together to celebrate Diwali on Sunday in a solemn way without bursting crackers to express solidarity to the families who have incurred much loss due to the Phailin cyclone and the continuous rains after that.
Their slogan is ‘Safe Diwali for Safe Bachpan’. As part of this special solemn observation, the children of these 10 slums would get together when it gets dark after sunset and light up diyas.
They would request inhabitants of their slums not to spend money on crackers as it would be a misuse of money during these days of hardship after the cyclone.
These children would also take part in a mass prayer where they would pray to Almighty for support so that their cyclone devastated slums could come back to old normal self as early as possible.
Activists of a youth social organisation named Youth for Social Development (YSD) which is working for children living in slums of the city, has come out to support this special solemn Diwali observation in selected slums.
The 10 slums where this programme is being taken up include Raghupati Nagar, Dhobbandha Sahi, Pichpicha Nagar, Haridakhandi Harijan Sahi, Old Berhmapur Bauri Sahi, Jagannath Nagar, Ankuli Gudiabandha Sahi, Ambapua Bauri Sahi, Khodasingi Bauri Sahi etc.