11 November 2004	Thursday	27 Ramazan 1425

NEW DELHI: School children have joined battle this Diwali to fight the darker side of the dazzling Hindu festival of lights celebrated in India on Friday.

Millions of dollars of fireworks lit across the subcontinent might add to the festivities but they also engulf the cities in a poisonous smog, severely worsening already lethal pollution levels.

Children are taking an anti-pollution and firework safety message out on the streets of the capital where festive preparations have been in full swing for more than a week.

In overcrowded eastern Delhi, a military-style campaign is underway.

"We have formed squads of five children from each class to carry the message of pollution to their neighbourhood, parents and friends," said Pushpa Devi, headmistress of Ashok Nagar Girls High School.

"Others are also writing slogans, handbills and posters against firecrackers," Devi said of her 1,165 students.

Police are raiding illegal firework manufacturers and hospitals preparing to treat a rush of respiratory ailments and burns.

Delhi's Pollution Control Board monitored Diwali at 40 local locations last year and found pollution levels at certain spots rose 95 times above local limits.

An official said the monitors would be back in place for Diwali 2004 in the city where two million vehicles already contribute to about half of the 3,000 tons of pollutants discharged daily into the air, despite sweeping measures to cut emissions.

Environmentalists such as Iqbal Malik have even accused the government board of fudging figures, arguing that Delhi's Diwali pollution levels were much higher than reported in 2003.

An Indian cancer institute recently surveyed 7,000 people and found two in every five suffered from lung, liver or genetic disorders due to polluted air in the capital city of 14 million.

"And the number of people with asthma attacks who come to us goes up by 30 per cent each Diwali," a spokesman of Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences said.

A choking blanket of pollutants and toxic gas shrouded the capital for nearly 14 hours last Diwali. Some flights were suspended and many trains delayed.

Diwali marks the home-coming of mythical warrior king Rama. Hindus light oil lamps, let off firecrackers and exchange sweets and gifts in celebration of the battle Rama fought to free his wife Sita from the clutches of demon lord Ravana.

"If India is serious about putting a check on pollution especially during Diwali then it must set the bar higher at European levels but then India's firecracker industry will go bust," said prominent health expert Pradeep Bijalwan.

Anumita Roychoydhury, an anti-pollution scientist with the Centre for Science and Environment, a private watchdog, called for better data on the effects of pollution and the number of burns cases.

"It is important to sensitise people but for this we require very strong health data because people will respond to that," she said.

"And this is a good time to survey hospitals emergency rooms to see if respiratory and cardiac symptoms go up on Diwali. Doctors informally say it does but these things have to brought out in to the public (domain)," the scientist said.

"But this festival is so deeply rooted in the society's cultural mindset mere regulations may not work," she admitted, calling for national awareness programmes to fight pollution.

While some children are being taught to campaign against air pollution, many others are still enslaved making fireworks.

Kailash Satyarthi, India's best-known anti-child labour activist who mobilised 10,000 children against firecrackers in a nationwide campaign in the mid-1990s, said the country must strike at the roots of both problems.

"We began our campaign because these products are made by children and this has now resulted in tremendous pressure on India's firecracker industry," said Satyarthi, who heads the South Asian Coalition for Child Servitude, a non-governmental organization. "But unfortunately, some 100,000 children are still engaged in making firecrackers during Diwali."-AFP