At a time when heatwave conditions and scarcity of water have adversely affected the state, a 53-year-old former Bihar Ranji skipper have come up a unique solution to put an end to water woes.
Former left arm spinner who has also played with Indian team skipper M.S. Dhoni at Keenan in the year 2000, had sent emails to over 50 schools and nearly 10 corporate sectors in the steel city on March 31 where he had requested the authorities to adopt a simple practice of conserving water taking cues from a Pune-based cradle City Pride School.
“The Pune-based CBSE affiliated school was facing a major water crisis in 2014 and they did not even have the budget to arrange for water on a regular basis. This is when the environment committee of the school came up with the unique idea to combat water crisis by saving the remaining water from the bottles of the students that they tend to waste once school gets over. Students were asked to store the unused water in the buckets placed outside every classrooms,” said Kumar, who is also an official of Tata Steel sports department.
Avinash chanced upon the idea after hearing about the initiative from his friend based in Pune.
“As a resident of the steel city, I feel it is my duty to contribute towards conserving water. I request schools, corporate sectors and other institutions to practice the idea. I have also sent mails to all my friends and acquaintances,” added Avinash Kumar.
The statement of the former cricketer assumes significance as Jamshedpur falls under the overexploited category as per the groundwater evaluation undertaken by the directorate of groundwater resources, Jharkhand.
“Jamshedpur faces uncontrolled exploitation of groundwater,” said R.S Tigga, deputy director of groundwater directorate, Ranchi division that looks after groundwater level of the East Singhbhum division.
Kumar, who has been involved with summer training camps of various schools for the last five years, asserts that around 300-400 litres of water could be saved in this manner.
Inspired from Avinash, few schools across the steel city have already started adopting the practice.
Students and faculty of RMS High School in Sonari are equally excited to carry out the practice for the past three days. “I got the mail from Avinashji and immediately had a discussion with our environment committee to implement the idea. Students no longer waste water and till now we have managed to conserve huge amounts of water,” said principal Parineeta Shukla. Beside playschool Little Millennium in Baridih have also introduced the idea among tiny tots.
“This year summer training camps will begin from May 9 where children will be educated about water conservation. I have received positive feedback from several schools and hope they will adopt the practice soon,” said Kumar.
