Children paint their planet in colours of love

GUWAHATI: The Times of India in association with Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) organized a special art competition for school children 'Paint your Planet' at Srimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra on Sunday. Around 600 children participated in the competition.
The contestants were divided into five categories depending on their age. Children of 4 to 18 years participated in the contest.
Puru Gupta, GMC commissioner said, "It is very important to sensitize children and teach them to protect our planet from an early age so that they grow up to become responsible citizens."
"We always support such contests and help in conducting such awareness campaigns as our responsibility does not end only with collecting garbage. We need to guide our children as they are our future citizens," he said.
"Also, everyone should understand that they must contribute to the environment in small ways because if the ecological balance is not maintained, all of us will be affected. So, if we can make at least half the population aware of this, we will consider ourselves successful," he added.
Children from different schools were seen expressing their ideas on protecting the environment and they were happy to find such a platform to showcase their talent.
Pooja Kumari, a participant said, "I had participated last year too and even won a prize. The best thing about this contest is that I get to meet a lot of children from different schools. It gives us a good exposure."
Guardians too were seen encouraging their children and they felt this is a creative way of nurturing a sense of responsibility towards the environment in the children.
Bharati Mazumdar, a resident of Chirstian Basti said, "My son Pritam Mazumdar is participating in the competition. I feel children express themselves best creatively and what could be better than an art competition."
The event was supported by Topcem Cement, ITC, Candid 24/7 , Hotel Gateway Grandeur, channel partner Ramdhenu, radio partner 92.7 Big FM and Leo Advertising.