Collectively battling against Covid

As a responsible corporate with the legacy of giving back to the community, the Aditya Birla Group has been helping stem raging Covid-19. Even as India's Covid case load rose to staggering numbers, the Group joined hands with the government, non-profit organisations (NGOs) and other key stakeholders to deliver Covid relief measures.

The Covid relief efforts cover a wide spectrum of actions, from helping set up the necessary infrastructure wherever required, providing masks, personal protective equipment (PPEs) supplies for frontline Covid warriors, and extending every possible relief to victims.

Through FICCI Aditya Birla CSR Centre for Excellence, the Group addressed the problem of getting food for the marginalised and worked with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKON), in distributing cooked meals to thousands of families in Delhi, Mumbai and Noida. A partnership with Goonj helped in supplying ration kits to thousands of families in 11 states. The Group also arranged for 90,000 PPE kits for frontline health workers in six states.

Covid has severely affected livelihoods in the informal sector – workers, migrants, small land holding farmers, returnee migrants, villages youths and tribal women. Along with the Nudge Foundation, the Group has launched a 3-year project on 'Creating Resilient Communities' in Odisha, West Bengal, Delhi NCR, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka and Maharashtra. This project has benefitted 400,000 families.

The surge in Covid cases was such that everyone had to pitch in. The Aditya Birla Group was no different. The Group set up a 100-bed facility at the Seven Hills Hospital in Mumbai and helped earmark 500+ hospital beds across several states.

The Group also converted the hospitals attached to its manufacturing and production sites into Covid treatment facilities. Hindalco hospital at Renukoot was certified as Level-2 Covid centre while the Utkal hospital was declared a Level-1 care facility. Over 10,000 people have been treated at the Group's facilities. Medical personnel employed with the Group were also deployed to bolster the anti-Covid fight.

As the second wave surged across India, medical oxygen turned out to be a critical resource. The Group rallied its resources and coordinated efforts to provide oxygen plants, thousands of oxygen concentrators and jumbo cylinders. It also pressed into service its own liquid oxygen plants in several states for the effort. For instance, the Birla Copper plant in Dahej, Gujarat, has been supplying 25 tonnes of liquid oxygen daily to local authorities.

Awareness camps have been another area where the Group has invested considerable efforts. Close to 5,000 camps were organised in 500+ locations to educate and inform the community.

The Group is totally committed in its fight against Covid and this is a humble step at stemming the Covid tide. With vaccinations we hope Covid will be the thing of the past. However, we still have a long way ahead. 'A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step'