Maharana Pratap Chatravas

Schooling alone is not enough when a child goes home to a roadside tent with no place to study. The Maharana Pratap Chatravas gives Gadhiya Lohar children a safe, nurturing home where they can focus on learning.

A promise kept

• 2014: when Indradhanush began, families were moved on every two or three months. We arranged a vehicle to follow the children to school, and promised them a permanent hostel one day.
• October 2022: construction on the Foundation's one-acre plot was 70% complete when we wrote to the Chief Minister about land for the community.
• August 2024: 90% complete, with the ground floor being readied.
• 2025: construction completed, entirely with the support of our donors, and the plaque unveiled.

The campus

• One-acre plot at Village Naugava Jagir, Pilibhit Road, Bareilly, with 500 sq. yards of covered area
• Two residential halls, a library, a computer room, a kitchen, an office, a warden's room and two multipurpose rooms
• Room for more than 40 children aged 6 to 17

Lighting it up

The campus has no grid electricity connection, so no child can move in until it has power. A 15 kW rooftop solar system — on the building's 4,800 sq. ft. south-facing roof — will run the lights, fans, water pump, kitchen and computer room, meeting a projected need of about 31 units a day and avoiding 15 to 18 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year. GAIL (India) Limited is supporting the installation under its CSR programme; it takes about three months, after which the first children move in.