Jantar Mantar,19th December
by Ragini Mangla

What would you do on a chilly Sunday evening – sit cozily at your home cuddled in a blanket and sip that delicious cup of hot frothy coffee. Well, everyone else might do that but certainly not the Greenpeace activists. They were out there on the roads protesting against the inaction of the Power Ministery in announcing the ‘Bachat Lamp Yojna’- a measure that would ensure that the CFLs are available at a subsidized rate to the general public and its prices are at par with the incandescent bulb if not less.

The Bachat Lamp Yojna first announced at the Climate Council in July 2007 ensures that the incandescent bulb is phased out by 2010 as it causes harmful CO2 emissions. The activists marched across Jantar Mantar to take their demand directly to the Prime Minister. They carried a huge banner greeting the PM ‘Happy New Year’ and concurrently reminding him to keep the promise he made last year. The volunteers also carried hundreds of black colored balloons labeled CO2, highlighting that every single day delay is costing the environment 2, 50, 000 tonnes of CO2.

Brikesh Singh, Climate and Energy campaigner, Geenpeace said- “we have less than 100 months to save ourselves from climate catastrophe and there is no time to waste.” He said that they are now taking the demand directly to the PM as the Power Minister Mr. Shinde did not show any urgency in addressing the issue. “We hope that we don’t face the same dilly-dallying and demand that the long overdue Bachat Lamp Yojna be announced by this Republic Day” – he added.

The PM had addressed global warming as a big challenge to environment in his last year’s Independence Day speech and had emphasized on the use of sustainable energy resources. This rally was held only to ensure that the PM means what he said and the Bachat Lamp Yojna is put in place by this Republic Day.

The protest at Jantar Mantar today was the continuation of the Gandhigiri style campaign started earlier this year by Greenpeace, where the activist delivered bouquets of balloons symbolizing “avoidable CO2 emissions” at the doorstep of the Power Minister everyday and a card reminding him of the Bachat Lamp Yojna.

Ragini Mangla

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