Meet the 14-year-old teen who has designed a sanitiser kit for sterilising vegetables

The outbreak of COVID-19 is bringing about a huge change in the way we live. From maintaining physical distance when we step out, washing our hands constantly to stocking up on hand sanitisers and disinfecting wipes, we have all become vigilant about hygiene and staying away from germs.   

In line with this thought, Aditya Pachpande, a class XI student of Indus International School in Pune has designed and developed a 'Suraksha Kit' that can protect people from the novel coronavirus using UV-C rays, reported The Logical Indian. 

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The young boy, whose role model is Elon Musk, the chief designer of SpaceX, already has a patent for the kit. He recently received a note from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Institute, an autonomous body known for its ground-breaking R & D. The letter stated that the product can be used for UV-C sterilisation activities. 

Fourteen-year-old Aditya who has been distributing the product completely free of cost in vegetable markets at Dadar in Mumbai, said that the sanitiser kit resolves one of the most daunting challenges that households are facing presently – of decontaminating vegetables (on which neither soap nor alcohol-based sanitisers can be applied). 

This idea came up during the pandemic - as to how to sterilise vegetables. So, I did my own research using UVC rays and how it can be used in a controlled environment to kill viruses and bacteria, and eventually came up with the UVC sanitiser box,” Aditya told The Indian Express.

Once Aditya receives the final evaluation report from CSIR-CMERI, he is looking forward to making over 15,100 more such sanitisation boxes and distributing them to the economically weaker sections of society. 

(Edited by Rekha Balakrishnan)