Bhubaneswar: Vedanta, which has been at the forefront of the battle to combat Covid-19, has so far spent Rs 151 crore in providing preventive healthcare to local communities and distributing free meals to the daily wage workers. Having taken various precautionary measures to ensure the safety and well-being of its employees, Vedanta has reached out to over 7 lakh community members in preventing the spread of the pandemic.
According to Vedanta Chairman Anil Agarwal: “India has shown tremendous resilience in fighting the impact of COVID-19. We have earned goodwill from the world for supplying critical medicines to many countries. I am confident that our economy will become self-sufficient. ‘Make in India 2.0’ will be the mantra, Start-ups will innovate, MSMEs will provide work, the mining & manufacturing industry will resurrect, and our people will emerge stronger. We will ensure strict norms for health & safety at work and recalibrate our economy.
“PM Modi has full support from India Inc. and the lives and livelihoods of our people is of prime importance,” Mr. Agarwal added.
Vedanta has set up a Rs 100 crore corpus for daily workers, preventive healthcare and welfare of employees and contract partners.
MEALS FOR ALL PROGRAMME
As part of this initiative, the company has so far provided more than 5.5 lakh meals to daily wage earners across the country. In addition, dry ration packets are being provided to 13,500 fisherman families at Worli Koliwada in Mumbai.
On their part, the business units have also distributed more than 21,000 dry ration packets to the local communities.
Vedanta Foundation has distributed food grains to 300 families, comprising around 850 beneficiaries, at the Abhinav Leprosy School in Mumbai.
Vedanta has pledged 10 lakh meals to daily wage earners in Delhi, Mumbai and Patna. The daily wage workers have been hit the most due to the Covid-19 pandemic and resultant lockdown.
Keeping in mind the poor condition of stray animals, who hardly have any access to food during the lockdown, the company is feeding more than 50,000 stray animals every day. The company has so far provided more than 6.6 lakh feedings to stray animals in Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur and Pune.
PREVENTIVE HEALTHCARE
In a bid to strengthen preventive healthcare, Vedanta has distributed more than 2.5 lakh masks across communities. The company is in the process of handing over another 2 lakh N95 masks to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India. So far, the company has provided more than 26,000 surgical masks and more than 60,000 surgical gloves to district hospitals across the country.
Vedanta has joined hands with the Ministry of Textiles to import 23 machines for indigenously personal protective equipment (PPEs). The imported machines, which will be fully functional later this month, will be able to produce around 5,000 PPEs per day. Also, the company has distributed more than 75,000 units of soaps and sanitizers across communities.
BALCO Hospital has set up isolation wards, while a 100-bed hospital has been commissioned in Korba. The Cairn Centre of Excellence (CCoE) in Jodhpur has been handed over to district administration as a quarantine facility with a 120-bed capacity, with meals provided three times a day for 150 people.
More than 10 mobile health vans have been made available to district administration for use as ambulances and for distribution of essential commodities by Business Units and Nand Ghars.
EMPLOYEE WELFARE & SAFETY MEASURES
In accordance with the Govt. circular on essential services and continuous processing industries, Vedanta plants are operational with strict adherence to WHO Standards on preventing COVID-19. Safety of our employees have been accorded the topmost priority.
In an act of solidarity with coronavirus affected people, Vedanta employees will donate one day’s salary, which will be matched by the company for the state relief funds.
Vedanta, in collaboration with Apollo Hospitals, has established a 24×7 general helpline for the employees to ensure timely healthcare advice during the lockdown. The services are open for all employees and their families.
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