India CSR Network
NEW DELHI: HDFC ERGO, India’s third largest non-life insurance provider in the private sector, distributed 10,000 pollution masks among school students in Delhi ahead of the Republic Day celebrations in the capital. As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program, the company aims to spread awareness and address the health concerns faced by the people in the city, due to high level of pollution.
Through this initiative, 10000 washable and re-usable pollution masks were distributed among the students of 8 government schools – 4 Girls Schools and 4 Boys Schools – in the New Kondli, Dallupura, Vasundhara Enclave, Mayur Vihar areas of Delhi, covering 5200 girl students and 4800 boy students. These schools included New Kondli-GBSSS (Boys), New Kondli-GBSSS (Girls), Dallupura-SKV, Vasundhra Enclave-GBSSS, Mayur Vihar, Phase III GBSS (Boys), Mayur Vihar, Phase III GGSS (Girls), Mayur Vihar, Phase III, Kondli Gharauli-GGSS (Boys), Mayur Vihar, Phase III and Kondli Gharauli-GGSS (Girls). HDFC ERGO also took this opportunity to connect with 17280 students and 550 plus teaching & supporting staff of the schools to spread the awareness about the perils of pollution. The company also spoke to them on the safety measures one must take to prevent any health hazards which may be caused due to pollution.
Speaking on the CSR initiative undertaken by the company, Mukesh Kumar, Executive Director, HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company, said, “Poor quality air causes severe damage to the lungs of the children, who are the worst-affected. We therefore took this step to distribute high quality pollution masks among the students of government schools. As a responsible corporate citizen we try to ensure health and well-being though our CSR activities.”
The permissible level of PM 2.5 (particles smaller than 2.5 microns) is 60 per cubic metre while for PM10 (particles smaller than 10 microns) it is 100 micrograms per cubic metre. Air quality or ambient (outdoor) air pollution is represented by the annual mean concentration of Particulate Matter PM10 and PM2.5, which are the tiny dust particles that can be absorbed in lungs and blood tissues. The poor quality of air can be a combination of industrial fumes, dust, exhaust fumes, open fires and the burning of burning of crop stubbles, which affects elderly people and children the worst. These are the key reasons to cause severe respiratory and cardiac problems.
HDFC ERGO plans to continue its CSR efforts in 2017 and focus on issues which pose a serious concern to people’s healthcare and the spread awareness about the preventive measures.
HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company is a 51:49 joint venture between HDFC Ltd.; India’s premier Housing Finance Institution and ERGO International AG; the primary insurance entity of the Munich Re Group of Germany. The company offers complete range of general insurance products ranging from Motor, Health, Travel, Home and Personal Accident in the retail space and customized products like Property, Marine and Liability Insurance in the corporate space. HDFC ERGO is expanding its network across the country and is today present in 108 branches spread across 91 cities with an employee base of over 2000 professionals. The Company also has a wide distribution network besides its own direct sales force.
