Odisha: ITI students make Mahatma Gandhi's statue out of scraps
In a special tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his birth anniversary, the students of the Industrial Training Institute (ITI) in Berhampur, Odisha have created a six-feet-tall sculpture of the Father of the Nation out of automobile scraps. The students worked on the concept of 'waste to wealth' under the guidance of their principal Dr. Rajat Panigrahy, known as the scrap man of Odisha.
The sculpture shows how to recycle scraps
The statue weighs around 100 kilogram and is made mostly out of 1,600 fan bearings, car seat belts, and iron rods. It will be installed on the campus on Sunday. Panigrahy said, since Gandhi emphasized on the need for cleanliness and PM Narendra Modi also launched the Swachh Bharat campaign in 2014, the sculpture shows a way to manage waste, he said.
30 students took 15 days to complete the sculpture
Around 30 students from fitter and welder trades made the sculpture with the help of teachers in 15 days. While the body and the clothes of the sculpture were made out of fan bearings, the shoes were made from seat belts. Iron rods were used to make the spectacles, fingers and other parts were made out of iron rods, reported The Times of India.
Waste material collected from campus free of cost
The students gathered all the waste material from the institute's electrical workshops and automobile garages with absolutely no cost. The statue was the first of its kind in the country, said Panigrahy. The students and staff are working on skill development with a new slogan — Swachhata Ru Dakhyata which translates to Swachhata Se Dakshata or excellence through cleanliness.
The students set a precedent on Ganesh Chaturthi
Campus has Asia's largest open-air scrap sculpture museum
On Ganesh Chaturthi, the students under Panigrahy had created a three-feet-tall sculpture of Lord Ganesh similarly using fan bearings mostly. The government-run ITI Berhampur has developed a niche in recycling scraps. The campus also holds the record for the largest open-air scrap sculpture museum in the continent spanning 10,000 square meters which came up last year, as per the Asia Book of Records.
