CSR: Vedanta Aluminium observes Global Handwashing Day at Jharsuguda

Vedanta Aluminium, a business of Vedanta Limited, is India’s largest producer of aluminium, manufacturing more than half of India’s aluminium i.e., 2.26 million tonnes in FY22.

New Delhi: Vedanta Aluminium, India’s largest producer of aluminium, observed Global Handwashing Day at Jharsuguda, in Odisha, under the theme of ‘Unite for Universal Hand Hygiene’. The company undertook a week-long awareness campaign to sensitize local communities on the importance of proper handwashing and hygiene practices. The campaign was conducted across 28 villages, including two schools for specially abled children and an old age home, thereby reaching out to more than 1600 people in and around Jharsuguda.

As part of the campaign, the company conducted awareness sessions on the importance and benefits of a proper handwashing routine through its Mobile Health Units (MHU) team, which was followed by a live demonstration on the six steps of handwashing using soap and water. Informative leaflets were also distributed to promote the healthy habit of handwashing in the villages.

Speaking on the Vedanta Aluminium’s health interventions, Sunil Gupta, CEO, Vedanta Ltd., Jharsuguda, said, “Global Handwashing Day gave us an opportunity to reach out to the community and demonstrate fundamental hygiene practices that can prevent many diseases. Through such endeavours, we hope to help our communities develop these building blocks of collective health and wellbeing. Through health camps, mobile health units, ambulance services, etc., Vedanta Aluminium has been providing much needed primary health services in the nearby villages, thereby bringing quality healthcare services closer to the people in underserved villages. We strive to proactively undertake community development interventions to bring about a holistic transformation in the lives of local communities in the areas where we operate.”

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Bhabani Buda, a resident of Jharsuguda who attended the awareness drive, said, “The session conducted by Vedanta Aluminium was very informative.I thank the company for conducting such awareness camps which makes us understand how simple measures such as timely and proper washing of hands can help prevent many diseases.”

Vedanta Jharsuguda provides a wide spectrum of basic and specialized health services in and near its areas of operations at Jharsuguda, which includes:

• Mobile Health Units which provide basic healthcare services to more than 55,000 people annually, across 28 remote villages
• Various health camps for local communities in and around Jharsuguda through the Mobile Health Units
• Awareness camps on preventive healthcare, including on HIV/AIDS
• An upcoming advanced state-of-the-art multispecialty facility which shall offer over 500 tests &specialized services like Radiology, Mammography, ECG/PFT/TMT, etc.

Vedanta Aluminium’s social interventions are focused on the domains of sustainable livelihood, quality education, women empowerment, health, water and sanitation, bio-investment and community infrastructure. These reach out to over 79 villages in Jharsuguda and nearby areas, benefiting nearly 1.7 lakh people in a year. Through them, the company empowers more than 4000 women from over 300 SHGs, provides doorstep healthcare services to about 32,000 people annually, gives educational support to more than 6400 students, and has planted more than 1.48 lakh trees in partnership with local communities.

Vedanta Aluminium, a business of Vedanta Limited, is India’s largest producer of aluminium, manufacturing more than half of India’s aluminium i.e., 2.26 million tonnes in FY22. It is a leader in value-added aluminium products that find critical applications in core industries. Vedanta Aluminium ranks 4th in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) 2021 world rankings for aluminium industry, a reflection of its sustainable development practices. With its world-class aluminium smelters, alumina refinery and power plants in India, the company fulfils its mission of spurring emerging applications of aluminium as the ‘Metal of the Future’ for a greener tomorrow.