The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : `Gandhigiri' against pollution

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 26, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

`Gandhigiri' against pollution

Staff Reporter

FOR BETTER HEALTH: NCC cadets campaigning against vehicular pollution in Bangalore on Sunday. — Photo: K. Murali Kumar

BANGALORE: Motorists at the Mahatma Gandhi Road-Brigade Road junction here were in for a "surprise" on Sunday morning while waiting for the signal to turn green.

Specially targeted were the ones who wouldn't switch off the engines of their vehicles and let them growl belligerently while spewing smoke.

Schoolchildren were roped in by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board to stand at the junction and watch out for such vehicles and politely give their owners a rose, a chocolate and a pamphlet about how they could contribute their mite for a pollution-free Bangalore.

"We reckon that today's highly paid young people, zipping around in their cars and bikes, don't really feel the pinch when the traffic police fine them Rs. 200. But we do want them to know their attitude is wrong, and it is making Bangalore's air unhealthy," board Chairman H.C. Sharatchandra said. And just as he had intended, there were many red faces and sheepish motorists who were handed a rose and a chocolate, and "ticked" off rather sweetly by children. "Yes, we do forget the small things that make a big difference," one of them said when asked how they felt to at the receiving end of "Gandhigiri".

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