Usha International, Eureka Forbes partner with Alfa Laval for women empowerment and health initiatives in rural areas of Pune

Alfa Laval, Pune-based leading Swedish major inaugurated 3 key CSR initiatives at Velvand and Nandgur villages in Bhor taluka of Pune today

Pune, March 20, 2019: Alfa Laval, Pune-based leading Swedish major inaugurated 3 key CSR initiatives at Velvand and Nandgur villages in Bhor taluka of Pune today. In the first initiative Alfa Laval and Usha International inaugurated a ‘Sewing School cum Production Centre’ for the women of the village. This will be the first production centre in Maharashtra.

The company has installed one water purification unit at a Zilla Parishad school in Velvand and another water purification unit in Nandgur village located 6kms from Velvand. The water filtration units in both villages have been provided by Eureka Forbes. A number of children from Nandgur village study at this school in Velvand. They were consuming drinking water directly from the dam without any filtration.

 

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Anantha Padmanabhan, Clutser President and Managing Director, Alfa Laval India Pvt. Ltd. said: “We are glad that Alfa Laval is contributing to community, especially women and children across the country. The current projects inaugurated in Pune deserve a special mention as we achieve yet another milestone in our CSR engagement with Samarth Vidya Mandir over the last four years. I would like to thank our partners Usha International and Eureka Forbes for their ready and enthusiastic collaboration with Alfa Laval on these projects.”

Samarth Vidya Mandir has given a room to start the Centre. Twenty (20) new sewing machines, three (3) of which have high end options for embroidery have been installed in the Centre. The women are already undergoing the first phase of training. Usha International has provided a team of very experienced trainers. The women will be taught to stitch clothes for men, women and children, school uniforms, uniforms for corporates etc. The proceeds from the sale of items prepared will go as earning for the women folk. This project supports Alfa Laval’s business principle under Community Engagement and CSR focus area under Women Empowerment.

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Velvand, the village around the school has hamlets of people whose main occupation is growing rice which occupies them for a period of three to four months in a year. As there are no industries in the area, the village is not able to attract corporates through CSR. Also, most of the population is illiterate and their children are the first generation going to school.

Dr. Priya Somaiya, Executive Director, Usha International said: “It is heartening to see this partnership between Alfa Laval and Usha Silai Schools fructify so beautifully. It just goes to reiterate the potential that collaborative partnerships like these have -- to effect change and transformation at the grassroots level by empowering rural women and supporting income generating initiatives.”  

As there are no earning options around, the youth migrate to the city to work as waiters or do menial jobs. The women folk in the village either do manual labour in the rice fields to earn a meagre living or sit at home. Since colleges are far away and there is no proper transport, the girls do not pursue higher education and stay at home. With the training given by Usha International, the women will have an additional means of livelihood.

Speaking on the water filtration units, Rtn. Aria Ohri, National Head, Community Fulfilment, Eureka Forbes Limited said: “It was a great experience to work with Alfa Laval Team as implementation & Technology Partners for their CSR project of setting up Water Purification systems at Zilla Parishad School - Velvand and Village Nandgur. Both these sites lacked accessed to clean and safe drinking water. The school management of Velvand and villagers of Nandgur were very co-operative and forthcoming in getting the basic infrastructure ready. We are very happy that this project will benefit 60 students and about 400 villagers and we expect that there will be overall improvement in their health and reduction in water borne diseases especially in monsoon! We look forward to working closely with Alfa Laval as their partner in service for impacting lives!

Through its CSR initiatives, Alfa Laval has rebuilt the school building, built toilets, and provided a school bus so that children from the neighbouring villages can also attend school. There is no secondary school in 30 Kms.

For further information please contact:

Rajita Kumar
Head, Communications India Region (India and South Asia) – Middle East – Africa
rajita.kumar@alfalaval.com

OR

Vinit Mahey
Mind Matters
M: +91 98901 98913 | vinit@mindmatterscorp.com

About Alfa Laval

Alfa Laval is a leading global provider of specialized products and engineering solutions based on its key technologies of heat transfer, separation and fluid handling. The company’s equipment, systems and services are dedicated to assisting customers in optimizing the performance of their processes. The solutions help them to heat, cool, separate and transport products in industries that produce food and beverages, chemicals and petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, starch, sugar and ethanol. Alfa Laval’s products are also used in power plants, aboard ships, oil and gas exploration, in the mechanical engineering industry, in the mining industry and for wastewater treatment, as well as for comfort climate and refrigeration applications.

Alfa Laval’s worldwide organization works closely with customers in nearly 100 countries to help them stay ahead in the global arena. Alfa Laval is listed on Nasdaq OMX, and, in 2018, posted annual sales of about SEK 40.7 billion (approx. 3.8 billion Euros). The company has about 16,400 employees.

Alfa Laval has been present in India since 1937.

The Indian company holds a unique Group Manufacturing Unit status for supplying Centrifugal Separators, Decanters and Flow equipment for the global market through sales companies across the globe. The company's products & systems are widely used in a variety of applications in Indian industries like Food Processing, Diary, Edible oil processing, Sugar production, Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology,  Brewery, Distillery, Starch, Pulp and Paper, Inorganic, Petrochemical, Oil & Gas, Marine, Energy, Effluent Handling and Steel & Metal.