Only 500 in Nagpur turn off their lights!

NAGPUR: A city with a population of more than 35 lakhs, but only 500 seemed to have woken up to the reality of Earth Hour. A little more than 500 people from Orange City shut their bulbs, fans, TVs, computers, etc to observe Earth Hour on Saturday at 8.30pm. Evidently the response is very poor but environmentalists see light in the darkness as they feel in future these 500 people will spread the message and the vision of Earth Hour will be realized. Environmentalist and a founder of NGO Green Vigil Kaustav Chatterje and his 35 members visited many areas to create awareness among Nagpurians to observe 'Earth Hour' by switching off lights. Subsequently, around 200 flat owners residing in many apartments including Bhavishyati, Jaika, Hemchandra, Prestige and Utkarsh (Anuradha) from Civil Lines area observed the cause.   Similarly, Green Vigil members, who also campaigned in Mahal, Nandanwan, Manewada, Kamptee, Kanhan, Vaishali Nagar, Motibagh and Institute of Science's girls' hostel also participated.  Kavita Chatterje, another member of Green Vigil said that the Earth Hour was a global initiative by WWF ( World Wide Fund for Nature) that aimed to send out the message that people are concerned about climate change and that policymakers should make it their topmost priority.  She claimed that the members also urged the shop owners to at least turn off the lights of their hoardings or banners.  Shakti Rattan, retired RBI official and administrative head of the NGO, pointed out that every citizen should participate in this campaign. He further explained that there are thousands of countries, many religions, but there is only one Earth. "Hence, irrespective of caste and creed, people should come forward to save the Mother Earth," he said.