Mayor Chandrashekhar Agarwal on Sunday inaugurated eight drinking water kiosks across the district put up by the civic body in association with a social organisation, Marwari Youth Brigade.

The kiosks have been set up at City Centre, Dhanbad; Polytechnic Mor, Dhanbad; Lakshmi Petrol Pump, Dhansar; Bhagwati Complex, Purana Bazar; Panjab Sweets, Joraphatak; Lakhsmi Narayan School, Dhansar; Katras More, Jharia; and Thana Mor, Jharia.

Each kiosk has a reverse osmosis (RO) unit, a water cooling machine and a water tank of around 2,000 litre capacity. The kiosks will be open round the clock and a local youth has been entrusted the task of maintaining each kiosk.

Mayor Agarwal inaugurated the kiosks in the presence of local ward councillors and office-bearers of the Marwari Youth Brigade led by its president Sandip Agarwal and convenor of the water project Ved Prakash Kejriwal.

“All the eight water kiosks have been established by us in the last four-five months while the land, free electricity and water connections have been provided by Dhanbad Municipal Corporation. We have established the building infrastructure as well as other facilities like the RO plant, water tank, water coolers, etc,” said Gopal Katersaria, a member of the Brigade.

Sunday’s launch, he said, was part of setting up 50 such water kiosks across the five circles: Jharia, Dhanbad, Sindri, Katras and Chhatand.

“We met with the mayor six months ago with a plan of establishing 50 water kiosks,” Katersaria said. “He readily agreed and assured us of land and free water and electricity connections.”

The remaining 42 kiosks would be set up as soon as they get the land for the units, he added.

“The water kiosks will be of great help to pedestrians and commuters, especially those travelling on two-wheelers, during the summer season and the spots have been identified at strategic locations,” said Kiran Devi, councillor of ward Number 45 of Jharia, who was present during the inauguration.