A fun filled Paryavaran Mela was organized at Regional Science City, Aliganj, Lucknow in association with Directorate of Environment, U.P & Centre for Environment Education, Lucknow on 5th June, 2010 on the occasion of World Environment Day by conducting a number of environment related educational activities for students, children and public.

The Mela was formally inaugurated by Shri Nakul Dubey, Environment Minister, Government of UP in presence of Shri Alok Ranjan, Principal Secretary, Environment, Shri Yashpal Singh, Director, Environment, several dignitaries and hundreds of children of Lucknow city. Shri Dubey appreciated the efforts of students specially slum children who participated in the programme and asked them to think about the use of alternative energy sources, eco-friendly consumptions of resources & conservation of nature. He asked them to love their nature and environment and make the Planet Earth green by planting as many trees as possible.

Shri Alok Ranjan, Principal Secretary, Environment gave the message of conserving and saving the rivers of the state which are very important for growth and development of mankind. He interacted with the young children and participated in the activities and also asked them to take the message of the day to all and one.

Shri S. Kumar, Project Coordinator, RSC, Lucknow informed that the Mela was all about knowing the Biodiversity around us with fun as there were corners like creative art and craft, green games, hands on, self expression etc with stalls of exciting activities such as Snake & Ladder, Identification of Birds, Odd one out, Film Screening, Puppet Show, Biodiversity Hunt & Quiz and much more. Children of different age groups and their parents got a unique opportunity to try out new ways of learning and finding out elements of biodiversity. The theme for World Environment 2010, as adopted by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) was “Many Species, One planet, One future”.

Dr. P. V. Sane, Ex-Director, NBRI and a renowned expert in Botanical Sciences was the Chief Guest of the closing ceremony. While speaking on the occasion Dr. Sane emphasized upon the need of all out effort by each one of us to make the plant Earth greener and livable for the future generation. He highlighted the various initiatives taken by governments to conserve and protect our Environment. He said that all of us should feel privileged to be the member of planet Earth where a rich biodiversity of life survives and hence it is our foremost duty to protect it.

In Biodiversity Quiz Shivam Tripathi & Utkarsh Chaturvedi got 1St, Aayushi & Arushi Gopal got 2nd and Shakshi Gupta & Pranita Agarwal got 3rd prize. There was a large participation at the Eco-games corner which was really exciting. Several environment related games were organized like Snake & Ladder, Jigsaw Puzzle, Label the visual, Who am I, Word game and Guess the world. About 165 students of different school participated & won about 100 prizes. The participants also gave their message on the message board and took a pledge to conserve and protect the nature. About 200 students & general visitor gave their opinion to protect the environment.

The Chief guest of the programme Dr. Sane also distributed prizes to the winners of the various events organized on this occasion. In all about 400 students & general visitors were present in this occasion.