Lucknow Diary
AQI dips
Having remained in the 'very poor' category for over two months, Lucknow's air quality looked up a bit and climbed to the 'poor' category recently. Moreover, the city has remained at the lowest level of pollution in December so far, thanks to light winter rains, a drop in high humidity levels and high wind velocity. The factors involved washed away the dust particles suspended in the air. But the city was 40 units more polluted than Delhi.
Tea, coffee to ward off sleep
Lucknow is set to extend its hospitality to drivers on the Lucknow-Agra Expressway by offering them free tea and coffee during the night hours soon so that they can ward off spells of sleep while driving. The step is aimed at helping reduce the number of accidents on the Expressway, particularly during the foggy season. Data shows that the majority of the accidents on the expressway take place between 10 pm and 6 am, after the drivers fell asleep. Tea and coffee stalls would be set up at intervals of 30 km. The driver and one more occupant of the four-wheeler would be served tea or coffee free of cost. If the number of passengers increases, then one would have to pay for every cup.
'Khelo Lucknow'
Over 32,000 budding sportspersons from the rural pockets of Lucknow will throng KD Singh 'Babu' Stadium to warm it up with their sporting talent at 'Khelo Lucknow' on December 30. The district administration's first-of-its-kind initiative aims to provide a platform to budding sportspersons from rural areas and give them the needed push to excel at the state and national levels. Participants in the age group of 10-16 years will play as juniors and those in the 17-30 age bracket will be treated as seniors. Of the 32,000 registered candidates, 10,000 will participate in the 100-metre sprint. Besides, there will be over 1,056 teams for kabaddi, 144 teams for volleyball, and 734 kho kho teams.
Parents' corner
The government is now targeting primary schools to popularise its welfare schemes. Soon, there will be a parents' corner in all government primary schools to inform parents and community members about various government welfare schemes, so that they could benefit from them and improve their living standards. The added advantage of the corner would make parents keep a tack of their child's progress. The inspiration came from a successful experiment undertaken at a government primary school in Gonda district. It helped increase the participation of community members in the school's activities.
City shivers
The city is in the grip of a cold wave, with the mercury plummeting significantly. Sunday was the coldest day of the season so far, with the minimum temperature plunging to 6.5 degrees Celsius, three degrees below normal. Strong winds from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir brought down the temperature. Muzaffarnagar was the coldest in the state at 3.4 degrees Celsius. Authorities are arranging bonfires, especially for the poor and homeless, during the night as the minimum temperature in the state capital is diving with each passing day. Despite the chill, the days remain pleasant.