Staff Reporter:
UNION Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush
Goyal on Tuesday flagged off the third phase of
the Giftmilk Programme of SAIL–Bhilai Steel
Plant (BSP) at the National CSR Conclave organised by the National Dairy Development Board
(NDDB) at Vigyan Bhawan. The conclave
focused on the role of corporate social responsibility in nutrition security and the reduction
of malnutrition.
The third phase of the programme marks an
expansion of BSP’s flagship CSR initiative aimedat addressing child malnutrition in mining-affected and
remote areas of Chhattisgarh. Under this phase, around
4,000 children studying in government schools located in
villages around the Iron Ore Mines of Bhilai Steel Plant will
receive vitamin A and D fortified flavoured milk.
The milk
will be supplied through the Chhattisgarh Milk Federation,
managed by NDDB, ensuring reliable last-mile nutrition
delivery. During the event, the official inauguration of milk
distribution in the Iron Ore Mines buffer zone villages was
carried out. Giftmilk packets were symbolically distributed
on stage to 21 schoolchildren from schools in the Rowghat
Mines area, marking the formal rollout of the new phase.
Representing SAIL at the programme were Ashok Kumar
Panda, Director (Finance), and Rajiv Pandey, Executive
Director (HR), Corporate Office, along with senior officials
from the CSR and HR departments of SAIL and BSP.
The Giftmilk Programme is designed to improve health
indicators, school attendance and learning outcomes among
school-going children.
Under the initiative, 200 ml of pasteurised fortified flavoured milk is distributed on all working school days. Currently, the programme covers 102 government schools and benefits about 3,250 students across
Narayanpur, Kanker, Mohla–Manpur–Ambagarh Chowki
and Balod districts.