New Delhi (27.11.2020): Steel Authority of India Limited while scrupulously following all Government guidelines for Jan-Andolan against CoVID-19 pandemic, has continued to take wide-ranging preventive measures as well as responded promptly across its Plants and Units including its Corporate Office located in New Delhi to fight the pandemic. In a message to employees before the onset of the festive season, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Hon’ble Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas and Steel, had said, “The CoVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we live, work, think and what we imagine our future to be. Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has rightly called for a ‘Jan-Andolan’ to raise awareness on CoVID-19 appropriate behaviour to arrest the spread of infection as effectively as possible.” Shri Pradhan had also asked people to maintain social distancing, wear mask properly and maintain hand hygiene to fight the pandemic.

Till date, the SAIL hospitals at Company’s various Plants and Unit locations across India, have treated more than 5000 CoVID cases in and around its Plants, Units and Office locations. Requisite medical, as well as other facilities, are being extended to the employees and their family members in tackling the pandemic. SAIL has earmarked around 330 isolation beds, more than 600 quarantine beds and more than 80 ICU beds at its different Plant hospitals to handle CoVID-19 cases. SAIL had envisaged the CoVID-19 crisis early and activated a scaled response for its management at its Plants and Units.

Anil Kumar Chaudhary, Chairman, SAIL said, “SAIL, being a progressive and pro-employee organization, always spearheads proactive measures to provide support to its workforce. As a responsible corporate citizen, the Company also extends every possible assistance to other stakeholders, particularly those residing in and around its Plants and Unit locations, in making a meaningful difference to people’s lives. In fighting CoVID-19, the strategic focus of SAIL has been to Mobilize (employees, stakeholders & resources), Control (sporadic cases & clusters), Suppress (community transmission) and Reduce (mortality) to control the spread of the pandemic and also to maintain the tempo of production.”

Standing strong with Company’s employees, the Company is regularly monitoring the CoVID-19 cases at its Plants and Units and is taking all necessary corrective actions to control the spread of the pandemic. For the benefit of the employees, the following measures have been undertaken:

• Introduced and continued the roster based deployment of manpower at Plants and Offices to ensure continuity of operations while maintaining social distancing.
• Covered more than 5400 Healthcare providers of SAIL Hospitals under ‘Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package Insurance Scheme’ of Rs. 50 Lakhs
• Provided reimbursement of expenditure on PPE / personal hygiene products like masks, hand-sanitizers, disposable gloves etc.
• Ensured full payment of wages to contract labours during this period
• Distributed masks and sanitizers to all employees on a continual basis

While the Company has received help from the Central Government in fighting the pandemic, it has partnered with the Government in combatting CoVID-19. Some of the measures in this direction are as follows:

• SAIL’s Ispat General Hospital at Rourkela has provided five ventilators to the State Administered CoVID Care Centre
• SAIL’s Bokaro General Hospital has been earmarked for treating CoVID +ve patients
• Doctors and paramedics of SAIL - ISP have also been assigned state medical duties
• More than 6000 ration kits have already been distributed in support of ‘PM Garib Kalyan Ann Yojna’
• More than 15000 masks were prepared and distributed by tribal / Self Help Groups under CSR
• SAIL has also contributed Rs 30 Crore to PM CARES Fund and Rs 4 Crore to State Govts. (1 Crore each to Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha Chief Minister’s / CoVID Fund) and SAIL employees contributed Rs. 9 Crore to PM CARES Fund by donating their one day salary
• SAIL Units and the employees are also rendering voluntary services to help migrant labours, poor & needy in peripheral areas

Along with all these, testing facilities have also been developed at SAIL Hospitals or it has tied-up with local government hospitals to provide speedy testing to the patients. SAIL is committed to take all necessary steps to fight the pandemic and make India stronger.