In 1996, there were 200 odd cases of fire reported in the Capital. The number of cases went down to around 100 last year. And it looks like the Capital's children have finally won over the adults in their fight to restore the ``the environmental balance of the city''. Most parents did not want to disappoint children who had pledged not to burst crackers ever again. Instead, families lit diyas, had sweets, met friends and enjoyed a relatively quiet weekend.

The people behind the `Children Against Crackers' campaign are Nature's SOULE, a non-governmental organisation, and the National Foundation of India. They have been running the campaign in various schools in the Capital for the past two months. As part of the campaign, debates, a human chain, poster-making contest and a run-against-crackers were held to drive home the pollution point.

``Our aim throughout has been to inform,'' explains Sanjeev Walia, director of Nature's SOULE. ``The decision on whether they should or should not use crackers was left to them. And the feedback indicates that many students have decided against crackers this year''.

Says Abhishek Jayant, a student of class IX: ``I will burst a few crackers, but the quantity will be really limited. One cannot suddenly stop bursting crackers. My father did not give me too much money to buy crackers in any case.'' The NGOs concerned are compiling feedback reports to find out how their campaigns fared. Another factor that led to decline in the use of crackers was the almost 21 per cent rise in the price of crackers. And to check how well their campaigns have fared, the organisations concerned are compiling feedback reports to find out what ``fewer crackers did to the city this Diwali''. Meanwhile, the Delhi Fire Service teams who toured the city last night were pleased. A DFS personnel said: ``There were few incidents of recklessness last night''.