Mohammad Amiruddin (78) is a shopkeeper from Chandini Market dealing in bags, plastic sheet material, covers, and tarpaulin. Since childhood, he has had a keen interest in the fields of art, craft, and design, and this has been a driving force behind all his endeavours despite all hardships.

The monsoon season in West Bengal often brings heavy rainfall, which causes significant challenges to those living and working in narrow bylanes or low-lying areas. The tarpaulin shed used during rains has to be periodically emptied as water collects on it, making it heavy and unstable. Doing so sometimes spills the rainwater on customers, parked two-wheelers or inside shops. Many times due to thunderstorms, the shed supported by bamboo poles collapses. These problems made Amiruddin think about a possible solution. 

Since he was dealing with tarpaulin, he decided to make use of it. He made a bamboo frame, mounted tarpaulin over it and provisioned a tarpaulin drain in the centre of the shed to drain water as it collects during the rain. He opened the lower end of the tarpaulin drain into the roadside drain to let rainwater runoff. The system worked perfectly well! 

His innovative idea caught the eye of other shopkeepers, and in no time, many of them implemented the same in their shops. The solution was practical and easy to implement. He has sold over 6000 units of the tarpaulin with a drain in his area and wishes to reach out to more shopkeepers in the future.