KOLKATA: A tea vendor’s son in north Bengal’s commercial hub Siliguri created a drone that will be used to track dengue mosquito larvae from next week onwards.
After testing the capabilities of his drone over the past six months, Class XI student Rajiv Ghosh went to city mayor Ashok Bhattacharya and presented him the idea of tracking dengue larvae, which was immediately accepted. “At first I was taken aback but when he demonstrated the functioning of his drone, I was really impressed with Rajiv’s talent and we decided to use it in our municipal corporation area to track mosquito larvae. We would provide him with whatever he needs,” the mayor said.
Rajiv is a Humanities student; he was unable to take up science due to low marks in Class X because of work at father’s tea stall. But he never let go his knack for scientific quest. Researching on internet, he realised that he would need about `1.5 lakh to achieve his dream. Neighbours pooled in money to help him realise his dream.
“My drone can go up to 200 meters and track stagnant water dumps. For professional work, a more advanced camera needs to be fitted. It would be difficult for one drone to take care of all wards of the city. If the municipal corporation supports me, I would make another drone very soon,” an elated Rajiv said.