Getting down at the Aluva railway station around 3.30 p.m. on Thursday, Trinath seemed ready to join one of the key missions he had ever undertaken in his life.
The long journey from Bhubaneswar in Shalimar Express, covering over 1,900 km, had not exhausted the student of plumber trade course at the Government ITI at Berhampur in Odisha.
“I am honoured to be part of the restoration work in Kerala, which has witnessed a devastating flood,” he told The Hindu . Trinath was part of a 25-member team of instructors and students from various ITIs in Odisha. They have come down to address electrical, plumbing, carpentry, refrigerator and air-conditioner-related issues at flood-ravaged homes in Ernakulam.
The team comprises 15 students and 10 instructors from ITIs in Phulbani, Cuttack, Gajabahal, Berhampur, and Purusottampur.
P.K. Sahu, training officer at the ITI at Gajabahal in Bissam, Cuttack, said the team would visit various flood-affected homes in Ernakulam in the next 10 days. “The students are capable of carrying out electrical, plumbing, refrigeration and air-conditioning work and carpentry. We are happy to be representing our State in the rebuilding work here,” he said.
The Odisha Skill Development Authority and the State’s Directorate of Technical Education and Training are coordinating their visit with their counterparts in Kerala.
While the Odisha team gets ready for the mission, over 250 ITI students from Kannur, Malappuram, and Ernakulam have already started using the skills they had learnt in classrooms for helping the flood-ravaged families to come back to normal life. They have visited hundreds of homes in the flood-ravaged areas to carry out work.
The students and ITI instructors are part of the Naipunya Karma Sena constituted by the Department of Industrial Training to assist post-flood repair and re-building work across the State. “They have been able to reach out to flood-hit homes in five to six local bodies daily. Some areas they have visited include Karumalloor, Nedumbassery, Kadungallur, North Paravur, and Eloor,” said Sujith Karun, district coordinator of the Haritha Keralam Mission.
Instructors also provide necessary guidance to the student volunteers.
Mr. Sujith said the services of the team would be available till normality was restored in the flood-hit areas. The students will stay here and complete the work. The team has been provided accommodation on the ITI campus at Kalamassery.
