GUWAHATI, Oct 27 - The Guwahati Sarbajanin Durga Puja Samity, Latasil has won the Prakriti Award 2016 as the best eco friendly Durga Puja of Guwahati. Instituted by Eco Tourism Society of North East, this award aims at creating awareness about celebrating the festival in an environment-friendly manner.
The second runner-up for the award was Kahilipara Sarbajanin Sree Sree Durga Puja Udjapan Samity and the first runner-up was the Noonmati Sector 2 Durga Puja Committee.
This year 90 Durga Puja committees had registered for the contest. Out of them 70 had eco-friendly idols and the rest had eco-friendly decorations. This year the key parameters were not only eco-friendly idols and decorations, but issues like minimum electricity consumption, noise pollution and clean surroundings etc., were given emphasis by the jury for the award.
According to the organisers, since 2013, the percentage of eco-friendly idols in Guwahati has increased by 80 per cent, which is reflective of people�s interest and concern towards environment preservation.
The winner, Sarbajanin Durga Puja Samity, Latasil had celebrated Durga Puja keeping in mind the environmental norms. The idols were eco-friendly and there was no use of plaster of Paris or artificial flowers. Natural colours were used on the idols which dissolve easily in the water without creating any negative impact on the aquatic life. Also, sound pollution and electricity consumption of the puja committee were minimum. Prasad was distributed in earthen pots and banana leaves. The same procedure was followed on the day of Lakshmi Puja. The puja committee has also decided to provide financial help to a four-year-old girl suffering from cancer.
