Assam youth uses discarded TV sets to house stray dogs

Dowarah — who had started a small shop after completing his graduation from the Bir Lachit BorPhukan College in eastern Assam's Sivasagar town — has so far set up five unused television sets on the road side of his locality at Phukan Nagar to shelter street dogs.

"This was done as I wanted to make sure the stray dogs do not suffer out in the cold or rain or under any hostile weather. So far, I have set up five such kennels and readied twelve more," said Dowarah over phone from Sivasagar, 370 km northeast of Assam's main city of Guwahati.

He said, "Though my family is very poor, I am not taking any financial help from any one or from the government. I am doing this on my own cost as I love animals."

Though the 32-year-old youth has no professional learning on science, he has developed some makeshift sprayer tools by bamboo and domestic items. The locals know Dowarah as an "innovator" who develops scrap stuff into utility items.

Earlier, he shaped a certain type of torch for the safety of the women and a "gadget" for hand sanitisation during the pandemic. "During created some 50 utility items from scraps and trash material. So, people don't throw away old and unused material but give them to me," Dowarah said adding that he had submitted papers about his creations to the Guwahati IIT.

He added, "I have been noticing the street dogs are suffering from various odds and weather conditions. After collecting some unused television sets, I removed the unwanted parts and accessories from the TV sets.

"With the remaining frame, I designed suitable homes for the street dogs to stay and titled them as 'Baator Ghor' (street home)."

"But then, if I put those 'Baator Ghor' in the road side, then people would misunderstand them as waste materials. So I came up with the idea of painting these boxes. I used two colours - yellow (to make it visible from a long distance) and green (to give it a shade of nature).

"For the comfort of the dogs sacks were laid on each kennel's floor and cotton cloths were spread out on it. "I ventured out several nights to see how the dogs live and used the 'Baator Ghor. I observed for a few days and the experiment turned out to be a success. I was more than happy!"

"Dowarah said that for drinking water by the dogs, I made a small container in such a way that it prevents tree leaves from falling in it so that the dogs can drink pure water. The container also facilitates collection of rainwater."

In his post on social media, he said: "I request you all to build such 'Baator Ghor', write your name and place them in suitable place alongside the streets.

"Also don't forget to upload pictures along with the dogs. Your one big step can influence many."

Sivasagar Additional District Magistrate Al Azhar Ali appreciating Dowarah's creations said that this is a wonderful initiative, everyone must extend their support and cooperate with him. (IANS)