About 250 children of Jharia in Dhanbad district assembled at a children’s park in Jharia on Sunday to highlight the pollution of the coal town.

They painted on the theme “Pollution of Jharia” at a competition organised by two voluntary organisations — Youth Concept and Green Life — that have been active for the past few years to address the issue.

“This is one of the series of events we organised recently to highlight the alarming level of pollution in Jharia,” informed Youth Concept convener Akhlaq Ahmad, adding they had also organised a run for clean air earlier this month.

They also organised a satyagraha (sit-in) and a seminar on Vayu Mitra in the recent past, he further informed, adding Jamshedpur West MLA Saryu Roy who is very active on environmental issues had delivered the key-note address at the seminar.

Jharia, a coal town around 10km from district headquarters Dhanbad, had topped the list of most polluted towns in the country when Greenpeace India conducted a survey and published its report in 2019.

Of the 313 towns surveyed at that time, Jharia was found to be the most polluted one where PM (particulate matter) 10 level was recorded as 295 micrograms per cubic meter, followed by 264 micrograms per cubic meter at Dhanbad, the district headquarters.

The Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) in Jharkhand was placed at eighth position in the country in another survey report in June 2022.

The children, who participated in the event, tried to highlight the pollution scenario as much as they could by painting their feelings.