Children of her age would scrimp and save their pocket money to buy storybooks, videogames or even a smartphone. But, 11-year-old Mondrita Chatterjee waits for her piggybank to swell so that she can build toilets for the poor and the needy, especially underprivileged children.

The Class VII student of Hill Top School, Jamshedpur, who had earned a pat from none other than chief minister Raghubar Das for donating her savings for construction of toilets in a fringe village last year, has done it again. This time, her piggybank cash of Rs 19,000 has gifted two toilets to Tatanagar Satyayatan Mandir, an ashram-cum-activity centre in Haludbani, Parsudih, for poor children.

"I had accompanied my father for a heart check-up camp at the ashram, 10km from the city, last December. I saw the place hosted extra-curricular activities such as yoga, dance and classical and instrumental music for children from nearby areas, but had no washroom. I knew what I had to do," said Mondrita, a resident of Telco and daughter of Amitav Chatterjee who is director-cum-cluster head of Meditrina Hospital in Adityapur.

The seventh grader shared her idea with her parents who were encouraging as ever. "They contributed to my piggybank as did relatives and acquaintances. My savings leaped to Rs 19,000 in April (this year)," Mondrita said.

With little help from Tata Technologies, which pitched in with Rs 9,000, her dream came true. Construction work began earlier this month and the toilets, separate for boys and girls, were inaugurated on the Haludbani campus on Monday.

Rajesh Roy, a senior member of the ashram, said the toilets were decently large at 15sqft and were the best gift the 350-odd children at the centre - 60 per cent of them girls - could hope for.

"Our students, particularly girls, are very happy. Many of them skipped classes in the absence of toilets. Now, they will not miss their dance and music lessons," Roy said.

Asked what inspired her to be such a hero, Mondrita said she had heard a speech on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Swachh Bharat dream in 2014 and had read in newspapers how schoolgirls were forced to quit studies owing to lack of toilets. "Something inside me told me I should help," she recalled.

In December 2016, the chief minister conferred on her the title of Sanitation Champion at a state-level conference for spending Rs 24,000 from her piggybank to construct toilets at Kendradih village in Chota Govindpur, 7km from her residence in Telco.

After her recent success, Mondrita is sure to become a role model for leaders and bureaucrats in a state that is still trailing in toilet coverage. Rural records of the Union government's Swachh Bharat Mission puts the toilet coverage percentage in Jharkhand at a moderate 53.93.