Worried that your currency may have a droplet infected with the dreaded novel coronavirus? BIT-Mesra alumnus of 2010 and West Singhbhum deputy development commissioner Aditya Ranjan has a solution.

Though viruses like the novel coronavirus survive on hard surfaces like coins and credit cards better than on bank notes, Ranjan employed jugaad (colloquialism for unconventional and affordable solutions) to launch a currency-and-cheque disinfectant unit for bank and railway counters in West Singhbhum district.

The disinfectant unit made from a lamination machine and an 11 Watt ultraviolet bulb heats currency and cheques.

“I got this idea from watching videos of women dry-ironing currencies to disinfect them from Covid-19 virus. I assembled an unused lamination machine and installed an 11 Watt UV bulb which would give UV action on notes and cheques by heating it above 300°F (Fahrenheit) while the paper passes through the lamination passes taking between 5 and 7 seconds to disinfect the virus. It costs between Rs 3,000 and Rs 3,500 to assemble,” said the young DDC Ranjan, who has a computer science engineering degree from BIT-Mesra.

The Jharkhand cadre IAS shot into limelight by recently making a Co-bot (a remote controlled CCTV camera and microphone enabled trolley to carry medicines and essentials in isolation wards for Covid-19 patients), a mobile Covid-19 sample collection booth, a hi-tech isolation bed and an innovative face shield.

About the currency disinfectant unit, Ranjan said that after interest shown by the Bank of India branch in Chaibasa, West Singhbhum, it was installed there on Tuesday. Another unit was installed at Chakradharpur railway station ticket counter.

“There are three slots in the machine for cheques and currency notes of various sizes. The unit can be kept at the deposit counter and bank staff can take a note after passing through the machine. We want to minimise risks and if there are many wads of currency, the bank staff can pick notes at random to disinfect and minimise the risk. At railway ticket counters, clerks can disinfect notes they get from passengers the same way,” added Ranjan.

West Singhbhum deputy commissioner Arava Rajkamal who was present during the launch at Chaibasa and Chakradharpur said that they would like more banks to come forward and put up the disinfectant at their branches.

A hands-free sanitiser, where basically a quantity of the liquid can be pumped out with a foot on a level, was also launched on Tuesday at the Covid-19 dedicated South Eastern Railway Hospital in Chakradharpur.