HGS has partnered with the Jaldhaara Foundation to open water health centers across Bangalore to provide safe & clean drinking water to residents in the city. Under this initiative, HGS & Jaldhaara Foundation will launch three centers across the city where each center is likely to impact about 35,000 – 45,000 residents within the radius of 2-3 kms. Reflecting on this initiative, Smita Gaikwad, SVP, CSR – Hinduja Global Solutions tells SPOI of what inspired them to be a part of such an initiative –
“As a socially responsible corporate, HGS believes in enabling significant impact in the communities we serve – through initiatives in education, healthcare and skill development. The setting up of three WaterHealth centers in Bengaluru is part of the same agenda. We believe that access to clean water will help pave the path for a healthier society and their economic development.”
Where did the inspiration of coming up with such an initiative with Jaldhaara Foundation came from?
The motto at Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS) clearly says to give back to the society in whatever shape or format. We are a very employee centric society with more than 45,000 employees globally. We wanted to do something for the society that contributes to the area where we work in. So in Bengaluru we have 6000 employees working in the Hosur belt and we motivate everyone to work in the areas of education, healthcare, youth skill development and now we brought in community development to the program. So we work with the communities around us and that has now converted very beautifully into creating communities of HGS in the localities. The next logical step for us was to see what best we can do for the community and what came up was the necessity for providing for clean drinking water and addressing hygiene issues. So we got in touch with Jaldhaara Foundation for setting up water units across Bengaluru in conjunction with Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to provide clean and safe drinking water to the marginalised community. Since we are already working in these segments, this initiative fit in very beautifully into our program.
When did this program start and what progress have you seen so far?
Through this tie-up, HGS is to set up three WaterHealth centers in the city by the month of August. So our first water unit is supposed to provide water to 35,000 families from that area. The other 2 areas that will come up will collectively cater to 90,000 – 100,000 people within a radius of 5-10 kms. The first center was launched on July 6, 2017 at Venkateshwara Temple, Kudlu Gae, Bengaluru.
Using a six stage purification process, each water health center can convert about 1500 liters of raw water into 1000 liters of consumable water in an hour. In a day the center will produce about 8000 liters of water in a day and about 1,000 liters in an hour which will be optimized according to needs of the community.
What will be the roadmap in taking this initiative to other areas in Bengaluru?
Right now we want to see how these units fare and with 3 units coming up, there is going to be enough for us in terms of creating awareness sessions and motivating our employees to participate along with Jaldhaara around these water centres. We want more and more people to use our services and remain free from water-borne diseases and lead a healthy life. Maybe next year we will think of expanding our water units to more areas.
Any challenges that you have faced so far?
We have not faced any challenges simply because water is a very sensitive issue in a city like Bengaluru, whether that is Cauvery or the underground water. The local corporations are very keen that the local constituencies get good water. In fact the permission came much faster for Jaldhaara to open these 3 units. The local MLAs push for such an initiative as they do get brownie points at the end of the day.
