Industrialist Anand Mahindra offered help to two Anganwadi workers, who were crossing a swelling nullah during rains and trek for 1 km through dense and hilly terrain to attend to their duties in Ralegada gram panchayat under Swabhiman area of Odisha’s Malkangiri district.
Mahindra tweeted about donating a rigid inflatable boat built by Mahindra Marine from his company’s CSR funds to the community following media reports about their plight.
According to media reports, Pramila Pelmel and Hemalata Sikha work at Suapali and Nedupali Anganwadi centers, respectively.
They tie dried bottle gourd shells to their waist and cross the swelling nullah during rains every year to distribute food for children and conduct health check-ups of pregnant women.
And they have been doing so for the past ten years.
For the people of Ralgeda panchayat of Mao-infested Malkangiri district, every Monsoon session comes with a danger of flood in the nearby Nerudapalli Nallah. The flood in the small river disconnected the villages in the panchayat to the rest of the world. To reach the nearby market or hospital, they have to swim across the river.
They have to swim across the flooded river by binding empty pots around their waists and then tracking for another 1.5 kilometers in the dense Mao infested forest to reach the Anganwadi Centre to serve pregnant mothers and infants.
Yesterday was a ‘marine’ day for me: tweeted about a cycle that works on water & about patrol boats built by Mahindra Marine. But this story is heart-rending. Hiten, would one of our rigid inflatable boats be of use to that community?Can we consider donating one from CSR funds? https://t.co/LhFKiom4PH
— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) October 21, 2020
After reading the struggle of these people in the media, Anand Mahindra offered his helping hand. He has asked his CSR team to donate Mahindra marine so that these people can commute across the river safely.
