Tehran City Council organizing children’s art festival on air pollution

TEHRAN,Nov.10(MNA) -- The Tehran City Council is currently organizing an art festival for children, which will spotlight air pollution in the megacity. The event entitled the Festival of Our City’s Sky will be held for children between 7 and 14 in the two categories of painting and literary composition, secretary of the festival Jamal Hadian-Tabaii said in a press release on Saturday. The main aim of the festival is to attract public attention to the issue of air pollution in Tehran and to gather proposals and requests from children for resolution of the problem, he added. The festival has also been organized to create an atmosphere in which citizens and social organizations unite for the protection of clean air, he stated. Children should spotlight the impacts of air pollution on the city and citizens in their works. The literary composition can be in form a letter to officials. The deadline for submissions is January 5, 2014 and winners will be announced during the ten-day Fajr celebrations for the anniversary of the victory of Islamic Revolution in February. Air Quality Control Company Managing Director Yusef Rashidi said in a TV program on October 11 that Tehran citizens breathed clean air only two days since the beginning of this Iranian year on March 21. In addition, Tehran City Council member Masud Solatanifar said that, based on a survey carried out by the organization in charge of Tehran’s main cemetery, Behesht Zahra Cemetery, the death rate of people suffering from respiratory and heart diseases shows a dramatic increase during days with high pollution levels. Iran’s Transport and Fuel Management Office Director Mohammad Royanian said on Saturday that the number of vehicles has doubled over the past four years. He said that over three million vehicles and about two million motorcycles are currently active in Tehran.