GUWAHATI, Sept 29 - Continuing with its efforts to promote environment-friendly celebration of Durga Puja, the Eco Tourism Society of North East will present the Prakriti Award 2016 � The Best Environment-Friendly Durga Puja of Guwahati.
�We conduct the contest in five phases that include registration, pre, ongoing and post-Puja survey and finally the award distribution. During the exercise, the society members collect data on the history, theme, uniqueness and various measures that the Durga Puja committees take to minimise the negative impacts on our environment. Our members also encourage and motivate the puja committees to have eco-friendly idols and to design their pandals on themes related to tourism and environment,� said Gautam Dutta, president of the society.
Puja committees having proper arrangement related to clean drinking water, dustbins, fire extinguishers, trained volunteers for managing traffic etc., get added advantage in the competition. The award requires that all puja committees maintain proper guidelines regarding cleanliness and hygiene.
The first phase is registration, which is going on and will end on October 3. Phase 2, which is pre-Puja survey, is from October 4 to 6 and the society will shortlist nine Durga Puja committees as finalists. They will be the nominees for the �Best Environment-Friendly Durga Puja of Guwahati�. In the second phase, the team members of the society will interact with the committee members regarding their preparations and also regarding the steps they take to minimise the negative impacts on the environment.
Phase 3 or ongoing Puja survey from October 7 to 11 will be the most crucial phase for the entire competition as an expert team will judge the puja committees. Phase 4 or post-Puja survey is from October 12 to 25. The society will monitor the post-Puja activities of the committees like immersion of idols, opening of the pandals etc.
�We have kept certain parameters like noise pollution, provision of pure drinking water, dustbins, traffic movement around the puja pandals, eco-friendly idols, utilisation of eco-friendly materials etc., to judge the winner. There will be negative marks for the winners if they fail to clear the post-Puja survey and those negative marks will be carried to the Durga Puja in 2017,� said Dutta. The award will be presented on October 26.
