As part of the most comprehensive intervention by any corporate in India to battle the ongoing crisis spanning health, retail, telecom, finance, Reliance Industries Limited on March 23 said it is taking a steadfdast approach to combat the coronavirus outbreak in the country.
"RIL has deployed the combined strengths of Reliance Foundation, Reliance Retail, Jio, Reliance Life Sciences, Reliance Industries, and all the 6,00,000 members of the Reliance Family on this action plan against COVID-19," the company said in a statement.
Drawing strength from its presence in varied sectors, RIL is looking to ensure that all its subsidiaries pull out all stops to support the government in its efforts to contain the deadly coronavirus outbreak.
It has undertaken many steps as part of its multi-pronged prevention, mitigation, and ongoing support strategy. In collaboration with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital has set up a dedicated 100-bed centre at Seven Hills Hospital, Mumbai, for patients who test positive for COVID-19. The facility, fully funded by the Reliance Foundation, includes a negative pressure room that helps in preventing cross-contamination and helps control infection.
The hospital has also offered to set up special medical facilities to quarantine travellers from notified countries and suspected cases identified through contact tracing.
RIL has built a fully-equipped isolation facility in Lodhivali, Maharashtra, and handed it over to the district authorities while Reliance Life Sciences is importing additional test kits and consumables for effective testing. The company has also announced an initial support of Rs 5 crore to Maharashtra Chief Minister's Relief Fund.
"RIL is enhancing its production capacities to produce 100,000 face-masks per day and a large number of personal protective equipment (PPEs), such as suits and garments, for the nation’s health-workers to equip them further to fight the coronavirus challenge," it said.
In partnership with non-governmental organisations (NGOs), Reliance Foundation will provide free meals to people across various cities to offer necessary livelihood relief in the current crisis.
On the other hand, RIL's telecom arm, Reliance Jio, has introduced the #CoronaHaaregaIndiaJeetega initiative aimed at enabling Indians "to stay safe while staying connected and productive, allowing for remote working, remote learning, remote engagement and remote care".
"Jio is combining its digital capabilities with Microsoft Teams, the unified communication and collaboration hub for teamwork in Office 365, to enable individuals, students, educational and healthcare institutions to continue their professional lives while still practicing social distancing," the company noted in its statement.
Other initiatives by Jio include a 'Symptom Checker' to enable users to check symptoms at home to prevent unnecessary pressure on the medical system, tools to enable 'Learn From Home" for students and 'Work From Home' for working professionals.
Jio will also provide Basic JioFiber broadband connectivity (10 Mbps), wherever it is geographically feasible, without any service charges, for this period. it will also provide home gateway routers with a minimum refundable deposit. Meanwhile, for all existing JioFiber subscribers, the telco will provide double data across all plans.
Emergency Service vehicles will be able to avail free fuel being offered by Reliance, while all736 grocery stores of Reliance Retail across the country will ensure sufficient supply of essentials, including staples, fruits and vegetables, bread, breakfast cereals and other items of daily use, so that citizens need not stock up.
To ensure that all employees of the company are safe and protected through the ongoing crisis, RIL will continue to pay contract and temporary workers, even if work has halted due to this crisis.
For those earning below Rs 30,000 per month, salaries will be paid twice a month to protect their cash flow and mitigate any overwhelming financial burden. The company has moved most of its employees to its Work-From-Home platform except for those who are manning critical roles in maintaining the Jio network for nearly 40 crore customers and for providing an uninterrupted supply of fuel, grocery and other essential items of daily consumption.
Disclaimer: News18.com is part of Network18 Media & Investment Limited which is owned by Reliance Industries Limited that also owns Reliance Jio.
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