New Delhi: As part of its CSR activity, Amplus Solar-a leading distributed energy company- has pledged to make available one million reusable cloth masks to the non-medical front-line workers. For mask procurement, it has reached to underprivileged workers mostly affected due to Covid-19 related lockdown. The initiative aims to empower both mask makers and those who need it most.
Headquartered in Gurugram, Amplus Solar is Asia’s leading distributed energy company providing low carbon energy solutions to industrial and commercial customers. Within a month, the company has managed to distribute over 1,60,000 masks in more than 450 locations.
Amplus launched #Millionsmiles in June 2020 and has been actively conducting a Mask Distribution Drive with the help of its employees and volunteers. The distribution drive that started with societies and residences in Gurugram and through the District Collector’s Office in Gurgaon, later spread across Delhi and NCR with help of volunteers through digital platform.
Masks are playing a pivotal role in controlling the spread of COVID-19 and keeping the community safe.They are expected to reduce the chance of transmission of contagion by almost 70 percent. While the awareness on wearing a mask is slowly rising, it is seen that many of the non-medical front-line workers like the house helpers, security guards, street vendors, delivery persons and in general vulnerable sections of the society are not wearing proper masks, due to its unavailability.
Amplus Solar has initiated masks distribution to many cities such as Jaipur, Mumbai, Pune, Agra, Indore, Hyderabad etc and to smaller towns such Rabriyawas, Ajmer and Bhiwadi in Rajasthan, Rewa and Dhar in Madhya Pradesh, Mirzapur and Agra in Uttar Pradesh, and Hulkoti and Nelralagunta in Karnataka among others.
Along with sharing mask, Amplus Solar has also decided to help underprivileged workers by procuring these masks from multiple NGOs that are utilising the manpower of the underprivileged workers. These are the people whose routine livelihoods have been struck badly due to the pandemic. The donated money is helping these workers and their families to meet their basic necessities.
Amplus has collaborated with a reputed NGO, UrmulSeemant, who have been facilitating mask-making by home-based women workers from interiors of Rajasthan. Urmul focuses on the upliftment of vulnerable and marginal sections of the society - women and children, and has been actively making an impact through health, livelihoods, education, governance, and advocacy interventions.
"We want to provide masks to people who do not have access to them. We urge everyone to use masks in public and follow all protocols required to keep themselves as well as their community safe," said Sanjeev Aggarwal, CEO and Managing Director of Amplus.
Amplus has contributed approximately 15 Lakhs for this initiative through its own funds and subsequently received voluntary contributions from its employees and other volunteers. Amplus has collaborated with Ketto, a reputed fund-raising platform to raise enough to procure and distribute one million masks.