Syed Sujeel Ahmed

Bidar: Residing in a remote and small town of Bidar district – Chitguppa – Muhammed Aqeel (50), a mechanical engineering undergraduate, has developed a sanitization tunnel to curtail the spread of COVID-19 in his town and gifted it to town municipality for public use.

Aqeel, who is into engineering business and runs Adil Engineering Works in the town, was approached by the town’s District Health Office (DHO) with the idea to sanitize public coming out to buy essential commodities amid the lockdown. Aqeel conceptualize the idea of a tunnel and started procuring the required parts and converted it into a working model within a day. The DHO has approached Aqeel with their plan on Thursday and the working model of the tunnel was ready by Friday.

The efficacy of these tunnels is yet not known, however, they are now popular among many COVID-19 affected countries, as an easy and quick way of mass ‘sanitization’ to curb the spread of deadly coronavirus.

Speaking to the deccandigest.com, Aqeel says that he studied nuances of making the tunnel and its working on several websites and then started procuring its components that included a pump, steam showers and sensors among others. A person has to pass through the tunnel to get sanitized. The moment sensors detect movement of an object, steam starts releasing for 10-12 seconds, which is laced with disinfectant and sprayed all over the body of the individual passing through the tunnel.

The chemicals used in the disinfectant steam are provided by the DHO. The tunnel was inaugurated by the Humnabad MLA Rajashekhar Patil on Friday and installed at the busy Baswaraj Circle of the town.

Aqeel says he is working on minute details of the tunnel to improve its efficacy and look and feel and planning to make a mobile version of it too. Aqeel has spent a little over 22 thousand on the finalized model of the tunnel and handed it over to the municipality.