Jindal Steel & Power Wins FICCI CSR Award For Fight Against COVID

Bhubaneswar: Steelmaker Jindal Steel & Power (JSP) was conferred with FICCI CSR Special Commendation Award for its fight against the COVID pandemic in the country.

Union Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda presented the award to President & Head (Group CSR), JSP, Prashanta Kumar Hota during the FICCI CSR Summit and Awards held in New Delhi, recently.

FICCI CSR Chairperson Padma Bhushan Rajashree Birla was present on occasion.

JSP, under the leadership of its Chairman Naveen Jindal, was among the few organisations in India to take up multidimensional initiatives, supporting the community and government to fight the pandemic. Through its CSR arm, JSP Foundation, led by Shallu Jindal, the steelmaker started a series of on-the-ground services to ease the suffering of the poor and vulnerable immediately following the pandemic’s onset.

“COVID-19 pandemic affected the society, the economy and the health infrastructure of the entire nation. The poor and vulnerable were the worst affected. As a responsible corporate citizen, Jindal Steel & Power and JSP Foundation joined the government and the community by building hospital facilities, providing liquid medical oxygen, feeding the hungry and protecting the livelihood of the vulnerable community during the lockdown to fight the pandemic,” said JSP Foundation chairperson.

Immediately after the announcement of the lockdown to fight COVID, JSP launched a special initiative, ‘Mission Zero Hunger’ in three states, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand, to feed truck drivers, stranded migrant labourers, and the poor. This initiative was later extended to Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra, delivering more than 2 million meals.

During the second wave, it supplied more than 5,000 tonnes of Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) by road and Indian Railway’s Oxygen Express to 13 states. It also provided two cryogenic tankers to the Odisha government for LMO transportation.

For healthcare services, JSP designated 700 oxygen beds in its Fortis OP Jindal Hospital & Research Centre in Raigarh and Tamnar, Chhattisgarh, and specialised COVID Care Centre at Angul, supported by ICUs, ventilators, and other capabilities. Besides, the Foundation also distributed lakhs of facemasks and thousands of litres of sanitisers among the community and the frontline warriors. Multiple buyback arrangements by the Foundation also protected the livelihood of farmers and women SHGs.