Workshop on making utility items from water hyacinth held at Kokrajhar

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOKRAJHAR: A zonal-level resource persons' workshop on 'Making Utility Items from Water Hyacinth' is being organized with a two-day programme on January 8 and 9 at Kokrajhar Science College.            

The programme is being organized by the Eco Club of Science College, Kokrajhar, and implemented by the Assam Science Technology and Environment Council (ASTEC), Govt of Assam, under the Environmental Education Programme (EEP) of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Government of India. The workshop aims at promoting environmental awareness, sustainable waste management, and waste-to-wealth practices by utilizing water hyacinth, an invasive aquatic weed, for making eco-friendly utility items. The programme is being conducted as a 'two-day and one-night' residential programme, meant for teachers of School Eco Clubs coming from 10 different districts of Lower Assam from Udalguri to Dhubri. The trainee teachers have been nominated by the District Nodal Agency in consultation with the Inspector of Schools of concerned districts and ASTE Council.

The programme began with a ceremonial lamp lighting followed by a welcome address by Dr Biswajit Nath, Associate Professor & Head, Chemistry and Vice-President of the Organizing Committee. A brief note on the environmental education programme and the role of ASTEC was presented by Dr Mehdi Al Kausor, Coordinator of the Eco Club Science College as well as the Coordinator for the zonal-level workshop.

Hizam Malem Nganba Singha, Project Scientist, EEP-Assam, and Riju Mahanta, Project Assistant from ASTEC, also attended the programme.

The technical sessions included a lecture on Solid Waste Management (SWM) by Dr Sanjib Brahma, Associate Professor & Head, Department of Botany, Science College, Kokrajhar. Dr Brahma in his lecture highlighted the importance of SWM in schools, colleges, offices, homes, and communities and discussed the challenges in SWM and its environmental impacts. This was followed by hands-on training sessions conducted by master resource persons Dhiren Rajbongshi and Bisnu Rajbongshi who came from Karaibari village of Darrang district of Assam, where participants learned practical techniques for crafting utility items such as baskets, mats, bags, hats and various other items from water hyacinth.

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