Boxan members at a water tower in Jaipal Nagar, Bokaro. Shabbir Hussain

Alumni of St Xavier’s School in Bokaro, Jharkhand, have come forward to ensure that drinking water supply is not hindered for the 100 tribal families residing in Jaipal Nagar, around 7km from the district headquarter.

The 1986 batch of the school under the aegis of its alumni association Bokaro Old Xavarians Association (Boxan) had started the water supply project in December 2020 at Jaipal Nagar contributing over Rs 1.75 lakh to install a submersible pump with 24 hours water supply through the solar power.

However, a fortnight ago, the solar electric supply inverter had developed technical snag due to lightning following which poor residents of Jaipal Nagar were unable to get water from the pump.

“The solar power inverter was damaged beyond repair due to the lightning and since the cost of repairs was more or less similar to a new one. We had no alternative but to arrange for contribution among Boxan after being informed by ADG rank IPS, Anil Palta (also a Boxan) about the plight of the residents,” said Boxan secretary Sajan Kapoor.

“We managed to collect the necessary amount through major contributions from Saurabh Chandra (1986 batch), Sumedha Roy (2003 batch) and Jude Roy Chacko (1984 batch) and will get the new inverter installed on Sunday morning. Till that time we have hired an old inverter which was installed on Thursday evening,” he said.

The Boxan secretary said they couldn’t wait till Sunday for starting the water supply. “After being informed about the defect in the inverter we did a recce and found that children have to go nearly 3km to fetch water. We couldn’t have waited till Sunday for installation of the new inverter (costing nearly Rs 55,000) and instead used our influence to hire an used inverter so that at least water supply is done a truncated manner,” Kapoor said.

At the moment, the water supply project functions for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening.

“We have requested the tribal families to fetch water during the one-hour period during morning and evening till the new inverter is installed after which they can get water throughout the day,” Kapoor added.

The new system, which will be installed on Sunday, will have an inverter along with a lightening conductor earthing system to safeguard the equipment from lightning in future. “We do not want the water supply to be hindered again in future due to lightning and would have a lightening conductor/ earthing system along with the inverter,” Kapoor said.