From planting saplings to sessions on environment ecology and bottle gardening, the residents of Kolkata tried to spread awareness in their own way on the occasion of World Environment Day here on Friday.
While 50 saplings were planted in the lawns of Victoria Memorial, which will be lit in green for a week to mark the World Environment Day, saplings were distributed to children at the Birla Industrial and Technological Museum. To continue the celebrations through the weekend, the Indian cricket team would participate in a plantation drive in the city.
“In one the events organised by us, school students were informed about bottled gardening and how to extract natural colours from flowers, vegetables and fruits,” Jayanta Sengupta secretary and curator of Victoria Memorial Hall told The Hindu .
Another important destination where World Environment Day was celebrated was Indian Museum where a session on environmental archaeology – highlighting the consciousness of environment in the country’s archaeological remains -- was held.
A sit-and-draw contest and puppet show were also organised where students were encouraged to think about ways to conserve resources since the environment day theme this year is “Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with Care”.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also tweeted her pledge to “develop a green earth” and highlighted activities taken by her government for the green cause.
Summer holidays extended
The State School Education Department on Friday announced that summer holidays for the State-run schools will be extended by a week.
“Considering the weather, we have decided to extend the summer holidays by seven more days. Some of the schools have already reopened and some are scheduled to reopen on Monday,” Education Minister Partha Chatterjee told journalists.
The schools were supposed to open on June 8.
Mr Chatterjee said that the decision has been taken by the order of Chief Minister.
