Jamshedpur, Sept. 16: Rotary district 3250 — comprising clubs in Bihar and Jharkhand — created a history of sorts today by collecting $80,000 (about Rs 3.2cr) within a few hours.

The Rotary movement would use the money, which was collected through donations, to initiate social projects in the states.

The money was collected during the annual Rotary Foundation meet, which was organised by Rotary Club of Jamshedpur (Steel City) at Beldih Club this morning.

“This is our annual meet, where we invite members from across the district and also have guests from Rotary International. The foreign guests let their Indian counterparts know of the worldwide projects carried out by Rotary,” said Uday Shir, a senior member of Rotary Club of Jamshedpur (Steel City).

With money flowing in, Rotary Clubs have already planned the projects.

“We will build about 12 water-harvesting projects in the district. Some of our other major projects are polio eradication campaign, eye operation camps and cleft-lift operations,” said Deepak Dokania, past president of Rotary Club of Jamshedpur (Steel City).

A centre to train underprivileged women, called Saheli, was opened at Adityapur as part of the Rotary event.

“Contributions as large as these show that our members are willing to help the downtrodden,” said K.R. Ravindran, a Rotary Foundation Trustee who came from Sri Lanka to participate in the event.