Miao: Residents of a remote village in India’s northeastern extreme Sunday organized a candlelight prayer service and distributed saplings to observe the World Environment Day.
The held the program at a traffic junction in Neotan, a village in Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh state.
“God created the world for all of us and so protecting the environment is everybody’s concern,” said Fr Felix Anthony, local Catholic priest welcoming the gathering.
The priest, who is also the secretary of the Miao diocese, explained the significance of the venue for the observation. According to him, people who come to a traffic jam belongs to various religions and diverse backgrounds. Such encounters make them aware of the importance of safeguarding the environment.
The program ended with the distribution of saplings to the participants. Dangnai Mossang, head of an anchal samiti in Miao, expressed her happiness at the Neotan residents’ initiative and hoped many more people will follow this example to protect and promote environment.
An anchal is a local term used for a cluster of few villages governed by locally elected people.
The prayer service was held at the Grotto of the Sacred Heart of Jesus at Namphai I, a busy traffic junction that connects to Miao in Arunachal Pradesh and Tinsukia in Assam.