Statehood Day celebrations ushered in hopes of better amenities in two densely populated pockets of East Singhbhum district. Jugsalai residents had their long-awaited demand for clean drinking water fulfilled on Tuesday around 4pm with the online inauguration of a drinking water project to be operated by Jugsalai municipality. The residents of Patamda block reaped benefits from solar lights inaugurated at 6pm. The Rs 16.11 crore water project was inaugurated online from Ranchi by chief minister Arjun Munda. Soon afterwards, MP Ajoy Kumar unveiled the plaque of the water tower in Jamshedpur. According to Jugsalai Municipality special officer Sitaram Singh, with the inauguration of the water project, the storage capacity has increased from two lakh gallons to seven lakh gallons. “Five new water towers of one lakh gallon capacity each were constructed as part of the project. The earlier water tower had a capacity of two lakh gallons. The project began in 2008 and draws water from Kharkhai river with a treatment facility at Shiv Ghat,” he said. The project cost which stood at 11.50 crore in 2008 escalated to Rs 16.11 crore. The project would cater to a population of around 50,000 spread over an area of 2.5sqkm. Meanwhile, Ajoy Kumar inaugurated solar light facilities in five villages — Kating, Haludbani, Beltand, Jalangdih and Kalumkati. In the project, two solar light facilities were installed at each location at a cost of Rs 1 lakh. According to the MP’s personal secretary Ch Rammurthy, they have plans to install similar facilities in 1,600 villages of East Singhbhum at a cost of Rs 8 crore. Among other functions organised to mark the occasion, a 12-over cricket match played with a deuce ball was organised jointly by the district administration and Tinplate Company officials at Tinplate Sports Complex in the afternoon. The district administration team — senior superintendent of police Akhilesh Jha, assistant deputy commissioner Bijay Kumar Sinha, ADM law and order Vijay Kumar Singh, executive magistrate Sunil Kumar Sinha and the district transport officer — won the friendly match by six wickets. The administration also paid floral tributes to Birsa Munda by garlanding his statue at Birsanagar market in the morning. Deputy development commissioner Dadan Choubey distributed beneficiaries of building and other construction workers act. In all, 61 cycles and 68 sewing machines were distributed among women workers. As many as 50 tool kits were given to skilled workers on the occasion. Top