By Joseph Varghese
Hundreds of Indian community members gathered at Corniche in Doha on Thursday to take part in an environment awareness march organised by the Indian Cultural Centre (ICC) in association with the Ministry of Environment to mark the Qatar National Environment Day.
Several high ranking officials from the Ministry of Environment, Indian ambassador Sanjiv Arora, ICC president Girish Kumar, visiting Indian academic Prof Dr V N Rajasekharan Pillai, a number of prominent members of the Indian community led the procession highlighting the importance of preserving the environment.
The procession started from a point near Museum of Islamic Art and proceeded to the Oryx statue on the Corniche. Several teachers from Indian schools, representatives from various Indian social and cultural organisations in the country and a large number of Indians from different walks of life took part in the procession.
Many of the participants were holding placards highlighting the importance of preserving nature and avoiding all types of pollutions. They also kept chanting and shouting slogans and songs on the need to protect the environment. Some of them were clad in environment friendly clothes and were seen holding green balloons.
Speaking on the occasion, Ambassador Arora said that Indian community is at the forefront of the efforts to protect the environment in the country. “We are showing solidarity with Qatar government in preserving the environment of the country. A large number of community members, schools students among others, have been part of the efforts in highlighting the importance of preserving the environment around us.”
Girish Kumar said that ICC arranged a number of programmes to mark Qatar National Environment Day, which culminated in the procession. “This is one of the several campaigns being organised in association with the Environment Ministry and in celebration of Qatar National Environment Day. We had conducted a number of events to build up awareness on environment among the general public and the Indian community members in particular.”
“We had organised several programmes for the students in the Indian schools including quizzes and other awareness programmes. We also organised a massive beach cleaning programme on Shamal beach. It has been a hugely successful programme with a large involvement of the Indian community members,” he added.
ICC also held a special event in the evening at the Diplomatic Club to mark the occasion and to honour the participants of the environment day events.