‘Use CSR initiative to help needy people in Kollidam’

A public welfare organisation has approached the Nagapattinam district administration seeking utilisation of the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) funds of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation for the uplift of the needy people in the community citing their pitiable condition due to two months of COVID-19 lockdown.

In a petition submitted to the District Collector Praveen P. Nair, S. Killai Ravindran, president of Nilam Trust based in Sirkazhi, said the people in Kollidam area where the ONGC is involved in exploratory work in the Cauvery basin expect support from the company in this time of economic distress. The ONGC officials had recently handed financial support under its CSR initiative to the district administration purportedly for utilisation across Nagapattinam.

Appreciating the support rendered by the ONGC at the time of calamities in the past to the immediate community, Mr. Ravindran said the very purpose of the CSR was to see through the progress of the villages in its operational area.

The focus area under the CSR scheme of ONGC Cauvery Asset constitute education, infrastructure support, healthcare, arts and crafts promotion, environmental and ecological conservation, and initiatives for physically and mentally challenged, according to its Environmental Impact Assessment report for drilling of 66 wells in the Cauvery basin.

The CSR initiatives of companies elsewhere envision a growth narrative for empowerment of immediate communities, Mr. Ravindran said.

The ONGC's EIA report also suggests implementation of various positive and enhancement measures as part of project benefit programme to people of the nearby areas. According to official statistics, Nagapattinam district received ONGC’s second highest CSR funding from April to December last year.

The highest CSR expenditure was in Tiruvarur district with close to ₹4.5 crore, followed by Nagapattinam - ₹2.43 crore, Thanjavur - ₹2 crore, and Chennai ₹1.33 crore. CSR funds were also utilised in Cuddalore, Madurai, Ramanathapuram, Tiruvalur, Tiruchi, Tuticorin, Villupuram, and Virudhunagar districts.