Mumbai: Vedanta has contributed Rs 101 crores to the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM-CARES) Fund. It will fund up to 200 crores in providing relief measures to communities at large across the country.
This contribution to PM-CAREs fund will complement Vedanta’s earlier commitment of creating a 100-crore corpus which is catering to three specific areas – Livelihood of the daily wage workers across the nation, preventive health care, support to all our employees and contract partners across our plant locations.
In a bid to minimise the impact on especially the poor and marginalized sections, Vedanta is providing;
Meals for all
• The company has pledged over 10 lac meals across India to the daily wage earners.
• Over 50,000 stray animals will be fed daily for the entire month.
Healthcare Facilities
• Vedanta has tied up with Ministry of textiles to import 23 machines from China for manufacturing of PPE within the country.
• We have collaborated with District Hospitals to provide them with markings, disinfectant sprays, medical equipment, and medicines.
• BALCO Hospital, in New Raipur, Chhattisgarh has set up isolation wards..
• 100-bed hospital commissioned in Korba, Chattisgarh.
• Our large Cairn Centre of Excellence in Jodhpur handed over to administration to be converted to a quarantine center.
• In the past one week, Vedanta has provided more than 70,000 masks and over 15500 Soaps and sanitizers in rural communities. .Need to mention the 10 lacs masks and others we are going to procure soon
• Awareness and sensitization campaigns on prevention of the deadly virus were conducted across 263 villages.
Employee Safety & Wellness.
• To provide 24X7 health care helpline access operated by Apollo Hospital for all employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Measures taken to ensure employee safety with all preventive health-care amenities in place at all locations in collaboration with resp. district administrations.
• Contribution by Employees
• Vedanta employees will donate 1 day’s salary which will be matched by the company to help provide immediate relief measures to local communities through the CM relief funds.
Vedanta Chairman Anil Agarwal said: “It is our responsibility to make sure that no one dies of hunger. My appeal to the Government is to provide migrant labourer at least Rs 8,000 every month for the next three months. Govt. has allowed transportation of essential products; it is also important that dhabas & food stalls on the highways remain open for the truck drivers. . We are more than willing to support any initiative in this regard,”
Mr. Agarwal added.” It is also important for SMEs and critical industries which contribute to sustain the nation’s economy, to work with 25 per cent workforce, as they are essential services and are in the continuous process category and they adhere to all norms of safety and hygiene, as prescribed by the World Health Organization.”
Prasanta Patnaik