Bhubaneswar: Odisha-born and UK-based entrepreneur Captain (Retd) Arun Kar and his wife, Nidhi, have funded the rebuilding of the washroom at a children’s home for girls in Nabarangpur district after they found that the old one in a dilapidated condition and roof-less.The washroom being built at Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Girls’ Ashram, Majhiguda, is in the final stages of completion, and will be useful for 49 girl inmates in the age group of six to 18 years. “Only the door and sanitaryware are left to be fitted. The bathrooms will be ready for use soon,” said Kanhu Raj Benjamin Singh Sadhu, the Nabarangpur-based social activist under whose supervision the work is being executed since Jan 1, 2026. He said the bathroom has been partitioned so that more children can use it at the same time.The initiative got underway when the entrepreneur couple approached the district authorities to do social work. “This programme started after discussions with local stakeholders highlighted the urgent need for safe sanitation facilities in a govt-supported residential environment in Nabarangpur district. I was completely aghast to find that the old bathroom did not have a roof. It was impossible for anyone to use it,” said Arun. “One of the dilapidated walls crumbled when work started,” he added.The local contacts carried out a ground-level verification in consultation with the district administration after assessment of infrastructure gaps by their two representatives from UK, Dr Bibhuti Pattnayak and Swagatika Tripathy.“The couple also supplied sanitary napkins for 38 girls for three months to the orphanage, 14 foldable study table-cum-chairs to the children’s home as well as a CPU,” said superintendent Baijayantimala Pattnayak. “The govt welcomes funding from people for social causes,” said district child protection officer, Nabarangpur, Suresh Kumar Patnaik.
