The National Environmental Protection Agency awarded prizes during a ceremony for the winners of the book reading and environmental artical writing competition at the Kole- Hashmatkhan Hall of the office.
Schah Zaman Maiwandi, Director General of the National Environmental Protection Agency, Mohammad Yousef Hamidian, Deputy Director of Finance and adminstration, heads of different departments of the agency, university professors, students, environmental and civil society activists, and media representatives attended the event at Kole-HashmatKhan hall of NEPA.
The competition was launched with the aim of bringing environmental issues to each family and promoting a culture of environmental protection in the community.
In the beginning, Seyed Meysam Ehsani, Press Advisor of the National Environmental Protection ‎Agency, gave information about holding this online competition and selection of the winners.‎ and said: The competition was launched to raise public awareness of environmental issues and to attract more cooperation from environmental organizations, civil society and the public. In this competition, 3152 people participated online in two sections (2942 people in the book reading contest and other 210 people in the environmental article writing), and 29 people were selected as the winners of this contest.
Later, Schah Zaman Maiwandi, Director General of the National Environmental Protection Agency, while appreciating the participation of more than 3,000 people from all over the country said: "Although holding this competition was a completely new experience for us; But it is very gratifying that in addition to the fact that our country is facing war and dozens of other problems, people are interested in environmental issues and thousands of our compatriots have participated in this competition.
Mr. Maiwandi added: "The environment is a very large and wide issue, along with the technical departments, serious attention should be paid to arise the level of public awareness." In addition to climate change, biodiversity, deforestation, soil erosion, air pollution, water, soil, wastewater management, we are dealing with dozens of other problems.
Director General of the National Environmental Protection Agency, said: "Air pollution is now a serious problem not only in our country but also worldwide According to the World Health Organization, 7 million people die each year due to air pollution. It is necessary to take serious measures in the fight against air pollution.
Mr. Maiwandi said. "Air pollution is a complex issue and different sources increase air pollution, which is why more than 20 relevant government agencies are responsible for reducing and preventing air pollution," It is necessary for all compatriots, civil society, environmental workers, university professors and media representatives to raise their voices and make the relevant departments aware of their responsibilities.
Mr. Maiwandi mentioned air quality assessment, preparation of policies and plans, and monitoring of air pollution sources are the main tasks of the National Environmental Protection Agency. Most people ask why the National Environmental Protection Agency does not impose restrictions on the import, purchase and sale of coal. This question arises while Afghanistan is an importing country, the lack of clean gas and energy, poverty and lack of permanent electricity are among the factors that we cannot prevent the import, purchase and sale of coal. During the last 4 months, we have monitored 4660 activities including factories, high-rise buildings, towns and guilds in Kabul. The installation of smoke filters on air pollution sources seriously continues.
Also in this cermoney, Zahra Yeganeh, on behalf of the civil society, welcomed the holding of this competition and called it a valuable step to raise the level of public awareness and promote the culture of environmental protection and promised that she will not hesitate to cooperate with this office.
Abdullah Rasooli, the coordinator of the MediaTech Foundation, promised to cooperate in ‎social networks in the field of environmental advertising and to publish the top ten articles ‎in the competition in their magazine.‎
At the end of the ceremony, Mohammad Younes Fakoor, who won first place in the ‎environmental article writing section, was awarded a laptop worth 75,000 thousand Afghanis.‎

Maliha Amin, who won the first place in the book reading category, was donated a laptop computer worth 75,000 thousand Afghanis.

Also, for each of the other 17 winners of this competition mobile phones and tablets, worth 12500 ‎thousand Afghanis, awarded as a prize. And for each of the other 10 winners of this competition, a ‎bicycle was awarded as a prize worth 9000 thousand Afghanis.