A day after Delhi’s air quality deteriorated to an alarming level, visuals of a bunch of kids running a marathon surfaced on social media.
The ‘Run for Children’ marathon, according to ANI, was organised by a non-governmental organisation ‘Prayas’ to celebrate Children’s Day. The organisation is based in Delhi and works for the development of juveniles in various states in India.
Delhi: A ‘Run for Children’ was flagged off in the national capital earlier this morning. pic.twitter.com/TzdGNt92HA
— ANI (@ANI) November 14, 2019
The pictures show hundreds of children running on Vijay Marg in Chanakyapuri and a banner carrying the logo of Life Insurance Corporation – a state-owned insurance group.
Incidentally, the Environment and Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority on Wednesday, directed the schools in Delhi and NCR to suspend classes for two days due to the hazardous quality of air in and around the area. The Central Pollution Control Board asked people to avoid outdoor activities and work from home.
As the photos went viral, many people took to Twitter calling out the NGO for making kids run at a time when Delhi’s air quality is at its worst.
As Delhi is battling with air hovering around emergency zone, a marathon named ‘Run for Children’ was organised that is risky for runners. Pl take action against organisers & officials @AamAadmiParty @ArvindKejriwal @UNICEFIndia https://t.co/iqAz4h0CJU
— Kailash Anerao (@AneraoKailash) November 14, 2019
Today in the world’s most polluted city: a life insurance company sponsored a run for children amid smog so bad schools were closed by government order https://t.co/2IDmYUzdqT
— Nick Perry (@nickeperry) November 14, 2019
Entire schools ? in Delhi , Noida are shut down due to rising #AirPollution levels – And then you see this ??♀️
Shows how much concern the organisers had in flagging off this run ?♀️ ?♂️?♀️ for #Children
Why was this run allowed in the first place ? https://t.co/7DIJT2dAOx
— RuchiAngrish (@RuchiAngrish) November 14, 2019
The general secretary of Prayas, Amod Kanth, called the run “symbolic” and said that they had cut short the duration when they were made aware about the situation a day before.
Amod Kanth founder of ‘Prayas’ NGO which organized run: That’s(pollution) why we reduced run duration. It was symbolic run. Real program is children’s day cultural event for which children were preparing for months.We didn’t know about this emergency(air quality) till yesterday. https://t.co/0w8BUOaMGy pic.twitter.com/BYnPM8dUKR
— ANI (@ANI) November 14, 2019
On October 31, when the air quality was yet again “severe”, the central government had also organised a ‘Run for Unity‘ to celebrate Rashtriya Ekta Diwas. Several school children and adults participated in the event, along with Union ministers Amit Shah and Piyush Goyal.’
Featured image credit: ANI