 |
| Sumathi, Cheranallur Panchayat, Ernakulam |
| |
As member of the Harita Karma Sena, an initiative of the
Kudumbasree Mission for waste management at grassroots level, Sumathi handles various plastic
wastes like water bottles.
It kept her thinking if the same could be used to build a
country boat. As a young girl, she had wanted to
own such a country boat. That urge came back to the
mind of this grandmother in her.
Her first attempt with plastic bottles alone proved
unsuccessful as the jugad lacked balance. Analysing
the fault, she revised the prototype and chose soda bottles, which also
she used to gather in her work.
This time there was another motivation for doing the
innovation. The Cheranallur Panchayat, where she
worked, had organized a competition for Harita Karma Sena members on
the theme �India�. She persisted and worked during
spare time at night and completed her innovation.
The total cost of the project was just Rs. 80 for two
rolls of cello tapes. The other raw materials were
merely collected as waste.
It was adjudged the third best entry among many.
After going in the boat solo for some distance, she made
her grandson sit on it and rowed him for some time. Later
she added the coordinator of their work also for the boat-ride.
She uses her self-made boat to row across the river and
remove non-biodegradable waste from the waters. Perhaps
a tiny effort like the squirrel�s in the Ramayana. Nonetheless a
satisfying engagement for Sumathi
Shahina K.K. (text), Outlook, Mar 8, 2024
