Chief minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurates the newly constructed ITC building of Institute of Plumbing Technology at Pattamundai on Wednesday. Telegraph picture

Kendrapara, Oct. 27: If Bob the Builder and his “fix-it” friends were to land in India now, no place will make them more proud than Pattamundai.

Patta… what?

Yes, Pattamundai, India’s capital of plumbers, where a school dedicated to chiselling a nut-and-bolt skill without which no modern home can function was inaugurated today.

It’s not clear yet whether Bob’s catchphrase of “Can we fix it?” and the spirited “Yes, we can!” (yes, millions of children know Barack Obama did not coin it) will be made the anthem of the Orissa institute.

But the animation character’s spirit of “crisis-management” is not alien to the Rajnagar-Pattamundai-Aul belt of Kendrapara where more people opt for plumbing to make a living than any other part of the country.

Chances are your neighbourhood plumber is also from the same belt or he will know someone from the region. The metros, including Calcutta, now boast around 20,000 plumbers hailing from the Orissa triumvirate.

The school – obviously named without Bob’s flair and goes by the very official the State Institute of Plumbing Technology (SIPT) – is the only one in the state (possibly the country, too) dedicated to plumbing. Other technical institutes do teach the skill but offer it as one among many other courses.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik, who inaugurated the Rs 5.25-crore institute spread on 3.48 acres today, heaped praise on the plumbers of the area. “The plumbers of Kendrapara have made their presence felt throughout the country with their skill and hard work. The state government has decided to hone their skills further so that they prosper economically.”

Technical consultant with the directorate of industries, A.K. Panda, said plumbing was a significant economic activity in the region, sustaining thousands of families in a “no-industry” district like Kendrapara.

Plumberturn

The course may lack the glamour of other “white-collar” curricula but vocational training, not learning by rote that fails equip students to make a living, has long been prescribed as the panacea for the unemployment that stalks the country. The Rajnagar-Pattamundai-Aul has done the commendable job of practising what the experts preach at seminars.

The belt took to the trade with relish several years ago when a couple of plumbers from Pattamundai went to Delhi to try their luck. As their reputation grew and remittances started flowing in, their friends and relatives followed them and slowly their number grew.

Take the case of Nakul Charan Swain, a plumber from Rajnagar, who migrated to Delhi in 1983. He earned a daily wage of Rs 9, which was higher than what he made at his village. Within three months he graduated from being the helper of a master plumber to a “mistry”, earning Rs 11 a day.

Today, at the age of 50, Swain is a flourishing contractor who employs 15 to 20 plumbers and masons. He owns a flat in Delhi’s Dilshad Garden, besides a pucca house in his village, and his son is doing his MBA in Bhubaneswar.

Some chose the more lucrative option of going overseas to Iran and Iraq to ply their trade but many stayed put in Delhi.

The principal of the institute, Bibhuti Bhusan Nayak, said the national council for vocational training had approved 21 seats for a single plumbing unit course at the new institute. All the seats have been filled; so the institute had asked for an additional 126 seats.

The 12-month course charges a fee of Rs 2,300 for general candidates and Rs 1,300 for scheduled caste and scheduled tribe students. The tools of the trade cost around Rs 1,250. Once they pass out, the students to earn between Rs 200 and Rs 250 a day initially and Rs 300-350 after a while.

“My father has established himself in the plumbing trade in Surat. He has been there for the last 20 years. I did my matriculation this year and have joined the plumbing course at the institute on my father’s advice,” said Prasanta Mallick from Srirampur village.

Amulya Dalei from Belatala village near Pattamundai echoed the same feelings. “My father is based in Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh. I will join him there after completing the course,” he said.