OdishaPlus Bureau
Vedanta Ltd, a global conglomerate in metals and mining, today announced setting up of a dedicated Rs.100 crore fund as part of its endeavor to join ranks with the Government of India to combat the widespread outbreak of deadly COVID-19. The fund will cater to three specific areas – Livelihood of the daily wage worker, employees & contract workers, preventive health care and will provide timely help to communities in and around various plant locations of the company.
“The world is currently putting up a spirited fight against COVID19. The Government of India along with state governments have so far done exemplary work to contain the spread of the virus. It is critical that corporate houses should assist the government in the fight against this deadly virus by contributing to the best of their ability so that the nation has adequate resources to take care of its citizens and provide both medical and financial assistance. This fund is the first step on Vedanta’s behalf and we will increase the corpus if the need arises. Further, we will also assist the communities at our various locations in case of loss of livelihood. I request every citizen in the country to stay safe and act responsibly and I am deeply concerned about our people but if we stay positive and take adequate precautions, we will emerge stronger,” said Agarwal, Executive Chairman, Vedanta Resources Ltd.
As part of other measures, Vedanta will not cut salaries or fire any staff, including temporary workers during this crisis period. It has also decided to provide special, one-time insurance to cover Vedanta’s employees and their families against COVID-19.
Further, all mobile health vans in operational areas will aide in preventive healthcare and each business unit will contribute towards the livelihood of daily wage earners around plant locations like tea sellers and vegetable vendors, he said.
As a responsible corporate, Vedanta and its subsidiaries have been working closely with communities across their locations on multiple development initiatives, including providing free health check-ups and treatments, providing access to clean drinking water, scholarships for underprivileged students, supporting women self-help groups, skill training camps for the youth and public infrastructure development in and around its plant locations.
Vedanta Limited, a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources Limited, is one of the world’s leading petroleum and metals companies with significant operations in Oil & Gas, Zinc, Lead, Silver, Copper, Iron Ore, Steel, and Aluminium & Power across India, South Africa, Namibia, and Australia.
For two decades, Vedanta has been contributing to India’s growth story, currently contributing 1 percent of India’s GDP. The company is among the top private sector contributors to the exchequer with the highest ever contribution of Rs.42,560 Crore in FY 2019.
Agarwal said governance and sustainable development are at the core of Vedanta’s strategy, with a strong focus on health, safety, and environment and on enhancing the lives of local communities. The company has been conferred the CII-ITC Sustainability Award, the FICCI CSR Award, Dun & Bradstreet Awards in Metals & Mining, and certified as a Great Place to Work.