NEW DELHI: In keeping with its commitment to support local communities during COVID-19, AkzoNobel India today announced its latest ‘People. Planet. Paint.’ sustainability initiatives.
The project follows a two-pronged approach that addresses the health and well-being needs of community members across five states while also meeting the education needs of more than 300 children impacted by school closures.
The donation of 55 oxygen concentrators across the five states of Haryana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh adds further momentum to AkzoNobel India’s efforts to support local communities. In addition to providing lifesaving hardware, AkzoNobel India’s unique tele-medicine initiative known as Arogya Sakha has benefitted 1.5 million painter community members and their families across India. This helpline provides COVID-19 screening through tele-consultation with specialist doctors, after care/ recovery of COVID-19 patients and vaccine registration counselling.
Commenting on the company’s ongoing efforts, Rajiv Rajgopal, Managing Director of AkzoNobel India, says, “As a responsible corporate citizen, AkzoNobel India firmly believes in contributing to the well-being of everyone in our ecosystem and broader community – it is an integral part of our sustainability agenda. We will continue to partner with government bodies and organizations to help augment medical infrastructure and contribute in protecting local communities in these challenging times.”
Rajgopal also takes pride in the company’s efforts to empower young people through education during COVID-19.
“Children are the future of India, but the reality is that COVID-19 has changed the learning landscape. Under our Project Parivartan, we are proud that our digital tablets are empowering underprivileged school children with equal access to e-education”, he adds.
Project Parivartan, AkzoNobel India’s flagship education initiative, has enabled learning continuity for approximately 310 underprivileged children who do not have the means to access online classes. The company has donated 155 digital tablets with pre-installed offline educational content, keeping in mind internet facility unavailability in many rural students households.
Of the total beneficiaries, over 240 children are class ten students from six government high schools across Maharashtra, Punjab and Karnataka. These include:
One hundred children from two government high schools in Begur and Doddahulluru village of Hosakote taluk (Bengaluru rural district in Karnataka)
Seventy students from two Navi Mumbai Municipality schools (at Shramik Nagar Koperkhirne and Turbhe store)
Seventy learners from two government schools in Mohali, Punjab.
In addition, AkzoNobel India’s Parivartan Center at Badshahpur (Gurugram, Haryana) supported 70 class five children undergoing remedial and non-formal education with access to digital learning.
The oxygen concentrators were distributed as follows:
Forty were donated to Municipal Corporations of Gurugram, Navi Mumbai, Hoskote (Bengaluru rural district) & Hyderabad. This will support Government hospitals and Primary Health Centers (PHCs) build-up emergency medical response capabilities for local communities.
Five oxygen concentrators were donated to Hilton Healing Center, Bengaluru
The final ten units went to ProtoVillage – a prototype of a “Resilient” rural community in the second driest district of India – Ananthpur in Andhra Pradesh for deployment in six mandal PHCs of Chilamathur, Lepakshi, Parigi, Amarapuram, Gudibanda and Madakasira.
