Bhubaneswar: Having helped crores of migrant workers and marginalised people across the country during the coronavirus-induced lockdown as part of its Mission Anna Seva, Reliance Foundation has now extended support to hundreds of artisan families and migrant workers in Odisha.
Reliance Foundation, in collaboration with local NGO partners, have been providing dry ration kits to Pattachitra artisan families at Raghurajpur craft village in Puri district and Sabai or golden grass artisan families at Pratappur in Baliapal, Balasore.
Due to restricted movement of tourists amid the raging COVID-19 pandemic, artisan families in these two craft clusters have been in distress since end of March. Reliance Foundation stepped up to provide them with essential needs like boiled rice, dal, cooking oil, sugar etc. to 160 Pattachitra artisan families at Raghurajpur in Puri district through Raghurajpur Heritage Tourism Committee on Tuesday.
The Foundation also extended support to around 100 sabai or golden grass artisan families at Pratappur in Baliapal of Balasore district on Thursday in collaboration with local NGO Kalaghar.
Reliance Foundation will be providing dry ration commodities to returnee migrants in Ganjam and Bolangir in coordination with the district administrations. Around 1500 migrant workers in Kukudakhandi, Hinjilicut, Patrapur and Dharakote blocks in Ganjam will be provided ration kits by the Foundation in collaboration with NGO PREM.
In Bolangir district, around 400 returnee migrants will benefit as the Foundation will give them ration in collaboration with Bhimpahad Krushak Producer Company Ltd.
Reliance Foundation’s Mission Anna Seva is the world’s largest meal distribution programme undertaken by a corporate foundation. Under the scheme, over 5 crore meals have been provided across the country during the lockdown period. It included free cooked food and family dry ration kits to marginalised communities and labourers.
As part of this mission, Reliance Foundation — in collaboration with local NGO partners Odisha Gujarati Samaj and Humara Bachpan Trust — had provided over 6000 families dry ration to marginalised people in slum areas, old age homes and migrant labour camps in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Khurda and Bhadrak in April and May.
The families covered under this scheme included manual rickshaw pullers, city cleanliness and sanitary workers, inmates of old age homes, slum dwellers, migrant and daily wage labourers, housemaids and people with disabilities. Dry ration kits were also provided to truckers transporting essential goods during the lockdown at all six Reliance Petrol stations in Odisha located at Khurda, Chandikhole, Paradip, Ainthapalli in Sambalpur, Sohela in Bargarh and Girisola in Ganjam.
Reliance Foundation also donated Rs 535.3 crore to various relief funds, including Rs 500 crore to PM CARES Fund. They also set up India’s first 100-bed exclusive COVID-19 hospital in collaboration with municipal corporation in Mumbai.
