Student wins award for idea to fight pollution

The pollution caused by motorists idling the engines of their vehicles at short halts or red lights has prompted a school student to come up with an idea, which, if implemented, could stir their conscience with pithy messages, prompting them to take an action.

Priyanka Panda from Bhubaneswar received the 2016 IGNITE Award from the President on Monday for her innovative idea aimed at reducing pollution.

Her idea is to add a display next to the odometer, where the monitor can send an alert that the driver is wasting the fuel and causing pollution.

“Most of the time, while travelling, people do not care to turn off the car’s engine when at red light or short halts,” said Ms Panda. This releases harmful pollutants in the air and wastes fuel,” she said.

She suggests that whenever a vehicle’s engine is idling, a message/alert should be displayed next to the odometer. The messages could be: “You have spoilt two years of a child’s life or something like this to remind people about the damage they are causing to the world,” Ms Priyanka Panda said.

Priyanaka plans to suggest this idea to various vehicle manufacturers.