Individuals and institutions extent helping hand to fight Covid 19 outbreak

Bengaluru: On one hand prime minister Narendra Modi's mother Heeraben donates Rs. 25,000 on the other a few organisations too are doing their bit through Corprate Social Responsibility to aid individuals and institutions combat Corona Viris.

Wipro, Azim Premji Foundation, Infosys foundation, Atria University, Embassy Group, Muthoot Group and a few others have stepped forward to support the Bengaluru City Traffic Police, destitute so, children, manual scavengers and pourakarmikas tasked with enforcing the nation-wide lockdown to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

These section of the society play a crucial role in breaking the chain and breaking the spread of deadly COVID 19 and to bounce back to normal life which almost everyone is yearning for. This helps the society in ensuring maintain social distancing.

According to an official communique, Wipro Ltd, Wipro Enterprises Ltd and Azim Premji Foundation, have together committed Rs 1125 crore towards tackling the unprecedented health and humanitarian crisis arising from the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.

These resources will help enable the dedicated medical and service fraternity in the frontline of the battle against the pandemic and in mitigating its wide-ranging human impact, particularly on the most disadvantaged of our society.

These responses will be carefully coordinated with relevant government institutions and would be executed by the Azim Premji Foundation’s 1600-person team, in collaboration with many of its over 350 strong civil society partners, who have a deep presence across the country. These efforts will fully leverage the technology expertise, sourcing systems, infrastructure, and distribution reach of Wipro.

Of the Rs 1125 crore, Wipro Ltd’s commitment is Rs 100 crore, Wipro Enterprises Ltd’s is Rs 25 crore, and that of the Azim Premji Foundation is Rs 1000 crore. These sums are in addition to the annual CSR activities of Wipro, and the usual philanthropic spends of the Azim Premji Foundation.

Infosys Foundation, the philanthropic and CSR arm of Infosys and Narayana Health launched a 100-room quarantine facility for COVID patients in the vicinity of Narayana health city in Bengaluru.

The patients in the isolation facility will be monitored by the doctors and nurses of Narayana Health City. This partnership is another step in the Foundation’s efforts to expand hospital and quarantine facilities and ensure proper medical treatment for the patients belonging to the economically weaker sections of the society.

Earlier this week, Infosys Foundation announced its commitment of INR 100 crore to help the government with COVID-19 relief efforts.

Mrs. Sudha Murthy, Chairperson, Infosys Foundation said, “Diseases often hit the underprivileged the hardest, because not only can they not afford proper treatment, but they also lose livelihood when they are dealing with the illness. This is a small effort by the Foundation to ensure that the underserved people of our society get access to clean, hygienic accommodation as well as appropriate medical treatment.”

Meanwhile, Infosys co-founder Narayan Murthy family commits Rs 10 crore to Akshaya Patra for COVID 19 relief.

Akshaya Patra Foundation has been serving cooked food and distributing essential groceries boxes for the migrant labourers and daily-wage earners who have lost their livelihood and in great despair in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent national lockdown.

Akshaya Patra Foundation plans to distribute 1,33,000 (1.33 lakh) essential grocery boxes which will serve 55,86,000 meals.

Maintaining order and ensuring that citizens are staying in their residences, the traffic police are at risk of contracting the virus as well. To aid them in conducting their duties in a safe and sanitary manner, Embassy reached out to the Police authorities offering to assist the task forces on ground during this difficult time.  

Identifying the zones around Embassy Manyata Business Park, Embassy Tech Village, Embassy Icon and Embassy Paragon, Embassy Group has set up four hydration stations where the police personnel can take refreshing time breaks.

The stations are equipped with drinking water, refreshments and toilet stops. In addition, Embassy Group has procured hand sanitizers, disposable masks and nutritional snacks through vendors vetted by the Traffic Police.

The items have been handed over to the Headquarters and will be distributed daily over the next 8 days to the 44 stations and their 3,800-person task force.

Mr. Jitu Virwani, Chairman & Managing Director, Embassy Group, has concurrently reached out to the BS Yediyurappa, Karnataka Chief Minister, to identify how private companies can assist the Government’s efforts in addressing the impact of the virus.

In response, the CM’s office has shared a directive with information on how to contribute towards the mitigation of the virus. This includes the set-up of a bank account to receive tax-exempt donations towards a Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.

Across 10 UP districts including Varanasi , Bhadohi, Jainpur, Mirzapur, Ghazipur, Azamgarh, Chandauli, Mau, Balliya and Sonbhadra Muthoot Group has partnered with senior police officials of UP State Police and are distributing 5 Kg Wheat Flour, 3 Kgs Rice, 1 Kg Dal, 500gm sugar, 500ml cooking Oil, salt and spices to hundreds of poor people, migrant workers and daily wage workers.

Atria University along with government has planned to feed 1.5 lakh needy at times of distress.

“In the wake of the rapidly spreading COVID-19, Atria Foundation felt an urgent need to assist the State Government in its efforts to serve several of the lesser privileged who are facing the brunt of the crisis. As a sign of our solidarity in the fight against the deadly Coronavirus, and in an effort to bring some relief to the hungry, we are making available 1.5 lakh free meals every day for the needy in Bengaluru," says Sundar Raj, Chairman, Atria group.