Bengaluru biz joins Covid-19 fight
The ever compassionate Bengaluru business groups and entrepreneurs have come forward to help the nation and the metropolis fight the formidable Covid-19 challenge.
Wipro, Azim Premji Foundation, Infosys foundation, Atria University, Embassy Group and a few others have come up with resources to tackle the "unprecedented health and humanitarian crisis" and support the police, destitute children, manual scavengers and pourakarmikas tasked with enforcing the nation-wide lockdown to prevent the virus spread.
In a communique, Wipro Ltd, Wipro Enterprises Ltd and Azim Premji Foundation, have on Wednesday together committed Rs 1,125 crore towards tackling the unprecedented crisis arising from the pandemic outbreak. These resources will help enable the dedicated medical and service fraternity in the frontline of the battle against the pandemic and in mitigating its wide-ranging human impact, particularly on the most disadvantaged of our society, Wipro said.
The activities will be coordinated with government institutions and executed by the Azim Premji Foundation's 1600-person team, in collaboration with many of its over 350strong civil society partners.
Of the Rs 1,125 crore, Wipro Ltd's commitment is Rs 100 crore, Wipro Enterprises Ltd's is Rs 25 crore, and that of the Azim Premji Foundation is Rs 1,000 crore.
Infosys Foundation, the philanthropic and CSR arm of Infosys and Narayana Health, launched a 100-room quarantine facility for Covid patients in the vicinity of Narayana health city in Bengaluru. The patients in the isolation facility will be monitored by the doctors and nurses of Narayana Health City. Earlier, Infosys Foundation announced its commitment of Rs 100 crore to help the government with relief efforts.
Mrs. Sudha Murthy, chairperson, Infosys Foundation, said, "Diseases often hit the underprivileged the hardest, because not only can they not afford proper treatment, but they also lose livelihood when they are dealing with the illness. This is a small effort by the foundation to ensure that the underserved people of our society get access to clean, hygienic accommodation as well as appropriate medical treatment."
Infosys co-founder Narayan Murthy family has committed Rs 10 crore to Akshaya Patra for Covid-19 relief.
Akshaya Patra Foundation has been serving cooked food and distributing essential groceries boxes for the migrant labourers and daily-wage earners.
Akshaya Patra plans to distribute 1.33 lakh essential grocery boxes, which will serve 55.86 lakh meals.
The Embassy Group has reached out to the city traffic police, offering to assist the task forces on the ground during this difficult time. The group has set up four hydration stations where the police personnel can take refreshing time breaks. In addition, the group has procured hand sanitizers, disposable masks and nutritional snacks and handed over to the headquarters to equip 44 stations and their 3,800 personnel.