Odisha: Closure of IMFA plant will affect its CSR activities

Bhubaneswar: Indian Metal & Ferro Alloys [IMFA] was forced to shut down it four blast furnaces and a 60 MW power palnt at Therubali and Choudwar after Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) revoked Consent to operate [CTO] the chromite mines. OSPCB’s withdrawal of CTO resulted in making the industry non-operational and production has come to completely halt causing uncertainty among the employees. The closure of IMFA plant and Mines will be forced to discontinue its CSR activities all over the state of Odisha.
IMFA, India’s leading producer of value added Ferro chrome, besides providing employment to more than 6500 people, has been adding value through its community initiatives by impacting lakhs of people annually, mostly from Tribal and backward communities living within its periphery since 55 years.
The company carries out sustainable CSR initiatives through the Bansidhar & Ila Panda Foundation (BIPF). It currently works in five districts of Odisha and focusses on the verticals of Health, Water & Sanitation, Education and Skill development. IMFA’s fully equipped dispensary at Therubali alone provides healthcare to more than 200 villages in the area and treats 80000 people per annum. Recently IMFA has also signed a MoU with L V Prasad Eye Institute of Hyderabad to open a Vision Centre at Therubali.
The Bansidhar & Ila Panda Foundation implements its health initiatives through “Project Arogyadhara”. Built on the core belief of “healthcare for all”, it provides primary healthcare solutions both curative and preventive. This includes well equipped dispensaries in four districts of Odisha like Rayagada, Jajpur, Keonjhar & Cuttack; outreach health services like regular free health-camps in hard to reach tribal pockets ensuring diagnosis/treatment/ referral; facilitates special immunisation drives in convergence with Dept. of Health & Family welfare, Govt of Odisha for children under-5 for prevention of fatal diseases and ailments like polio, diarrhoea, dengue, Japanese encephalitis etc.; conducts awareness programs through behaviour change communication on preventable diseases & adolescent health enabling a qualitatively improved life.
The determination and efficiency with which IMFA has grown to become the leading foreign exchange earner for Odisha, accounting for more than 10% of total forex earned by Odisha-based companies, is seen in their community initiatives also which include a modern CBSE English-medium school, 2 Industrial Training Centres and the recently added Skill Centres which have enabled more than 1000 youngsters to earn a sustainable livelihood after skill training.
Much before the Company Act 2013 mandated a CSR spend, IMFA has been carrying its communities with them and has believed and followed inclusive growth since inception. The holistic approach of IMFA’s CSR initiatives has resulted in all round development of marginalized communities in five districts of Odisha.The Company’s legacy has now broadened several folds and remains focused on its motto of ‘Touching Lives beyond Business’.

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