By OUR STAFF REPORTER
DEHRADUN, 24 Sep: UPES celebrated the United Nations’ International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone, World Ozone Day, on 16 September as ‘ATMOSFAIR- 2K19’ – a student driven environment awareness programme. The celebrations, conducted under the aegis of the ‘Department of Health, Safety & Environment and Civil Engineering’ of the School of Engineering from 25 August to 15 September, were organised by the student-led club, “Green Up”, and witnessed active participation of around 700 students of the University and a hundred village residents. The celebrations focused on sensitising government primary school students of the neighbouring villages (Bhauwala; Bajawala; Kandoli; Bidholi; Jhajra and Dunga) through awareness activities on topics related to climate change, ozone depletion and Plastic Waste, Child Abuse and Personal Hygiene with the active participation of the University students. ‘ATMOSFAIR- 2K19’ was the 6th Edition of the event. The day commemorates the signing of the Montreal Protocol in 1987 on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer; the year 2019 marks its 32nd anniversary. Abhishek Nandan, Assistant Professor, School of Engineering, stated that UPES has always created awareness on protection of the environment. The University itself is a recipient of the green rating award, “GRIHA”, for integrated habitat. Utilising the ‘World Ozone Day’ celebrations to conclude ‘UPES Swacchta Pakhwada’ being observed from 1 to 15 September, HSE & Civil Engineering students and faculty visited Village Dunga with an objective to sensitize its residents on water conservation, rainwater harvesting, recharge of ground water and waste disposal & segregation methods. The village ‘Key Champions’ who extended their support in conduct of surveys for ‘Total Waste Water Generation’, ‘Identification of Water Sources’, ‘Currently available Water Conservation Methods in the Villages’ and ‘Current Scenario of Plastic Waste Generation & Management’ were recognised by the University at the valedictory function. UPES reiterated its commitment to working on enhancing the ‘Water Table’ and ‘Proper Disposal & Reduction of Plastic Waste’ in the Dunga Village. Internal celebrations around the environment themes were also organised with numerous events including Poster Presentation, Face Painting, Engineer’s Eye – Green Brain Train, Photography, Short Film Making and Green Manifesto on the theme of ‘Ozone Depletion & Environment Awareness’ along with games like Treasure Hunt, Football, Galli Cricket, Tug of War, Logo Designing, etc., that formed part of the month-long activity. The winners were presented certificates and prizes by ‘Chief Guest’ Kuldeep Kumar Mattu, Lead auditor of DNV-GL and the ‘Special Guest’, Dr RP Badoni, former Scientist – IIP Dehradun. Thanking the faculty members of the HSE Department, Chief Coordinator Abhishek Nandan praised his colleagues Prasenjit Mondal, Dr. Bikarama P. Yadav, Dr. S.M. Tauseef, Arun P.A, Akshi K. Singh, Valluru Venkata Krishnakanth, Tabassum Abbasi, V Surendar, Madhuben Sharma and Dr Kanchan Deoli Bahukhandi for successful conduct of the event. Dr Nihal Anwar Siddiqui, Head – HSE & Civil Engineering, and Brig SS Dhillon, Sr Director – Administration, guided the organisers.
