Berhampur: The students of the Government Industrial Training Institute (ITI) in the city have always yearned to display their innovative skills and designs. As the State and its people are all decked up for the Grand and divine festival of Rath Yatra, the ITI Berhampur students have come up with a replica of ‘Nandighosha Ratha’ (Lord Jagannath’s chariot), made from unused material.
The Institution has started an initiative, ‘Waste Wealth’, under which students upcycle unused material to make something constructive and useful. Under this initiative, the ITI students used square shaped pipes from an office building situated in the city, to build the chariot of Lord Jagannath.
“Other scrap items such as bicycle chains, car cranks, cycle cranks, etc, were used to complete the whole structure. The students tried have put in a lot of efforts to realise their ingenious ideas and make the replica of Nandighosha Rath,” Berhampur Government ITI Principal, Dr Rajat Kumar Panigrahy said.
The chariot measures 12.5 feet in height and 7.5 feet in width. The 600 kg chariot will be erected at the open-air scrap park on Friday, on the divine occasion of Rath Yatra, Dr Panigrahy added.
The structure is quite similar to the Nandigosh Rath of the Lord at Puri. The chariot has six wheels and figures of two parrots and horses, mounted on it. Artificial grass was used to enhance the look of the chariot, the students who participated in the project said. Berhampur locals are very enthusiastic and have congratulated the students for their efforts.
Several students, including teachers, were welding and painting to build the chariot from the scrap. “Apart from this chariot, we have also made a Lord Ganesh from scrap which the college authority has decided to keep in the scrap sculpture lab “said Dr. Panigrahy.
