This Diwali, students of Techno India University and Techno Main Salt Lake college launched a project to illuminate streetside stalls with solar-powered lights. The handing over of the lamps is the final step of a crowd-funding campaign that the students have undertaken which will continue till November 10 on the website `smallchange.ngo`.

The project is under the umbrella of Y-East, a Techno India platform connecting individual and organisational actors of the sustainability and social sectors, which is in collaboration with Aakarsh Shamanur, a Bangalore-based architect who designed the light in keeping with the needs of street vendors.

“About 200 Techno India students were split into teams of eight or nine and fanned out across the city in search of hawkers with the maximum requirement for light. The ones identified were given the kit comprising the lamp, a battery charger, a solar panel and an illustrated manual. Our students have handed over 14 solar kits so far,” said Pauline Laravoire, sustainability director, Techno India.

In the Ultadanga-Kankurgachhi-Salt Lake belt, the hawker chosen was Dilip Burman, who sells snacks near the Ultadanga crossing. “We shot a two-minute video on him which was uploaded on our page on `smallchange.org`. We managed to raise Rs 3,744 in three weeks which was adequate to fund one lamp,” said Anusha Patodia, a BTech first year student of biotechnology.