Ambuja Cement Foundation Partners with Asian Paints; Initiates Water and Health Projects to reach out to 4.2 lakh people in rural Visakhapatnam

Mumbai : Strengthening its rural welfare programme, Ambuja Cement Foundation (ACF) partners with Asian Paints to enhance the livelihood of 4.2 lakh individuals in nine villages through water and health initiatives in Visakhapatnam. As a part of Asian Paints CSR programme, ACF will act as an implementing partner for this project to revive water bodies, install water filtration systems and create awareness among the community on judicious utilisation of water resources and health and hygiene for next two years.

ACF will execute the work for revival of traditional water bodies and construction of water structures to increase storage capacity for drinking water. With this project, ACF aims to provide safe drinking water to 28,700 people from these villages where groundwater is not suitable for drinking due to high TDS and other water quality parameters.

Under the project with Asian Paints, ACF will also work closely with the communities to create health and sanitation awareness in villages located near Asian Paints plant area of Visakhapatnam. The objective of the initiative will be bringing behavioral change towards health and hygiene and improving sanitation habits of people in the area. The initiative will benefit 1.3 lakh people in 9 villages over the next two years. The project will focus on building capacity of ASHAs, ANMs and create awareness among the community towards better health and sanitation practices.

Talking about the new partnership with Asian Paints, Ms Pearl Tiwari, President, Ambuja Cement Foundation said, “We have been working for years in this region for development of local communities. Our new partnership with Asian Paints will further strengthen our mission to increase the availability of safe drinking water by conserving water resources and creating awareness towards health and hygiene among villagers. We aim to reach out to 4.2 lakh people within two years in 9 villages with this project.”

Under its rural livelihood programme, ACF has already been running water management and health management projects in the area. With the recent rains, a newly constructed Check Dam in Haripuram village in Visakhapatnam much has captured about 31,500 cubic water which has recharged 12 tube wells and will benefit 700 families staying in the area.

Talking about their CSR work, Spokesperson, Asian Paints said, “As a socially responsible organization, development and progress of underprivileged communities has always been an integral aspect of our core philosophy. We are really impressed with the work on water done by ACF in the region and hope that with our partnership, we would be able to make significant strides in improving the lives of our adjoining communities.”