United News India
LUCKNOW, INDIA, October 30, 2005: After schools and NGOs, a temple here has joined a campaign urging people to spend more on helping the poor than bursting crackers this Diwali. The Hanuman Temple located on the banks of river Gomti and which has a large following, has started distributing pamphlets to devotees requesting them to shun the tradition of bursting crackers. The yellow handout forms part of the prasad distributed to the people who come to seek the blessings of Lord Hanuman. A fews years ago, the temple had started collecting tons of flowers offered to the Gods at the temple in a pit to prepare compost. Instead of the traditional prasad the temple had distributed the compost in paper bags to create awareness against dumping flowers and used incense sticks into river Gomti. Several schools across Uttar Pradesh have been campaigning against the use of crackers for the past several weeks. NGOs, too, had been interacting with the public to reach an understanding against bursting of crackers. The Lucknow Zoological Garden here has also appealed to the people to ensure that their celebrations on the festival of lights do not disturb the hundreds of animals and birds at the zoo.