Earth Hour: Lights out at homes & monuments; Delhi saves 269MW

New Delhi: Delhi saved 269MW as scores of residents switched off their electrical appliances and non-essential lights to observe Earth Hour on Saturday night. Several monuments and buildings plunged into darkness from 8.30pm to 9.30pm. Earth Hour is a global campaign that sees millions switch off non-essential lights for an hour. It is done to raise awareness on environmental issues. Among the landmarks that switched off the lights was India Gate, Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament House, Purana Quila, Red Fort, Humayun's Tomb, Qutub Minar, Akshardham, Hauz Khas Fort, Jantar Mantar, Kotla Feroz Shah, Safdarjung's Tomb, Tughlaqabad Fort and Sunder Nursery. Around 159MW was saved in the BSES area. Tata Power-DDL consumers collectively saved 74MW. Delhi, altogether, saved 269MW this time, compared to 206MW last year.Tata Power-DDL said in a statement: "This Earth Hour, we turned awareness into meaningful action by actively engaging with our workforce, customers, RWAs, and industrial welfare associations through targeted and impactful communication." It added that its efforts to amplify awareness included direct messaging through emails to customers, WhatsApp messages, and the display of communication collaterals at customer care centres and residential societies.The World Wide Fund for Nature - India (WWF-India) celebrated the convergence of Earth Hour with World Water Day. An art installation capturing the essence of the endangered Ganges river dolphin, India's national aquatic animal, created from scrap metal, was unveiled.Ravi Singh, secretary-general and CEO of WWF-India, said: "The Earth Hour Festival has become a WWF-India statement over the last two years. This year, it has given a worthy stage to our community partners while also igniting conversations around conservation through art, architecture, and music."