HDFC ERGO, India’s third largest
non-life insurance provider in the private sector, distributed 10,000 pollution
masks among school students in Delhi last month. As part of its Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR) program, the company aims to spread awareness and
address the health concerns faced by the people in the city, due to high level
of pollution.
Through this initiative, 10000
washable and re-usable pollution masks were distributed among the students of 8
government schools – 4 Girls Schools and 4 Boys Schools – in the New Kondli,
Dallupura, Vasundhara Enclave, Mayur Vihar areas of Delhi, covering 5200 girl
students and 4800 boy students. These schools included New Kondli-GBSSS (Boys),
New Kondli-GBSSS (Girls), Dallupura-SKV, Vasundhra Enclave-GBSSS, Mayur Vihar,
Phase III GBSS (Boys), Mayur Vihar, Phase III GGSS (Girls), Mayur Vihar, Phase
III, Kondli Gharauli-GGSS (Boys), Mayur Vihar, Phase III and Kondli
Gharauli-GGSS (Girls). HDFC ERGO also
took this opportunity to connect with 17280 students and 550 plus teaching
& supporting staff of the schools to spread the awareness about the perils
of pollution. The company also spoke to them on the safety measures one must
take to prevent any health hazards which may be caused due to pollution.
Speaking on the CSR initiative
undertaken by the company, Mukesh Kumar, Executive Director, HDFC ERGO General
Insurance Company, said, “Poor quality air causes severe damage to the lungs of
the children, who are the worst-affected. We therefore took this step to
distribute high quality pollution masks among the students of government
schools. As a responsible corporate citizen we try to ensure health and
well-being though our CSR activities.”
The permissible level of PM 2.5
(particles smaller than 2.5 microns) is 60 per cubic metre while for PM10
(particles smaller than 10 microns) it is 100 micrograms per cubic metre. Air
quality or ambient (outdoor) air pollution is represented by the annual mean
concentration of Particulate Matter PM10 and PM2.5, which are the tiny dust
particles that can be absorbed in lungs and blood tissues. The poor quality of
air can be a combination of industrial fumes, dust, exhaust fumes, open fires
and the burning of burning of crop stubbles, which affects elderly people and
children the worst. These are the key reasons to cause severe respiratory and
cardiac problems.
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