GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd. (GHIAL) has won the FTCCI (Federation of Telangana Chambers of Commerce and Industry) Excellence Award for "Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)" for its CSR initiatives through its CSR wing GMRVF (GMR Varalakshmi Foundation). The Hon'ble Chief Justice of High Court for the State of Telangana, Sri Raghvendra Singh Chauhan presented the award to the representatives of GHIAL on 12th July in the presence of other dignitaries.
While presenting the award, FTCCI lauded GHIAL for the "praiseworthy work in discharging Corporate Social Responsibility" towards the community in the vicinity of the airport and making a difference to the lives of the underprivileged sections of the society in the region.
Mr. SGK Kishore, CEO, GHIAL on winning this award said, "It is a great honour and recognition to be bestowed with this prestigious FTCCI award. It is a humbling experience and motivates us to continue to work for the good of our local communities. In line with the vision of the GMR Group towards making a difference to society, we are committed with our continuous efforts for the betterment of the community and this award motivates us even further to keep striving and creating value propositions for the society at large."
Since June 2005, GMRVF, the CSR arm of GMR Group has been working with the communities in Airport Colony, Gollapally, Mamidipally, Shamshabad and neighboring villages of Rajiv Gandhi International Airport. Focus areas of thrust for the GMRVF have been: Education; Health, Hygiene and Sanitation; Empowerment and Livelihoods; and Community Development.
Under Education, GMRVF runs GMR Chinmaya Vidyalaya in airport campus providing quality English medium education to the children of this area & also running a preschool at Shamshabad close to the airport. It supports 9 Anganwadis benefiting over 300 children yearly and 12 Govt. schools covering over 3000 children yearly. Support to the Govt schools and Anganwadis is done through many initiatives such as providing teachers; KidSmart computer education Centers; After-school support; career counselling; stationery and Infrastructure assistance (Notebooks/Shoes/Schoolbags, Library, Classroom construction/renovation, Toilet repair/renovation etc). GMRVF also grooms intelligent and underprivileged children from the villages around the Airport by providing free quality English Medium education through its Gifted Children Scheme. Under this scheme 124 children are being benefited so far.
Under Health, Hygiene and Sanitation – GMRVF runs Mobile Medical Units for elderly in collaboration with HelpAge India covering over 800 senior citizens every week along with free medical check-up and free medicines. Seven evening clinics are also in operation providing free treatment and medicines for the benefit of other community members like women, children etc. It also operates 3 nutrition centers for pregnant & lactating women providing awareness, nutritional supplements, health checkups, immunization etc – benefiting about 300 women every year. GMRVF has also built two RO plants in the neighbouring villages and maintains it for safe drinking water, helping over 600 households.
Under Empowerment and Livelihoods - GMRVF is running a vocational training centre in airport campus providing job oriented skill trainings to school dropout youth. It is offering free residential training in 11 courses with assured placement support. About 9400 youth got trained so far at this centre with close to 90% settlement record. The Centre has tied up with various industry partners over the years, like Voltas, Schneider, Hero MotoCorp, Volvo, Maruthi etc. for quality training, joint certification and placement support. The Centre is a 5 star rated institute under Ministry of Skill Development. It is also implementing PMKVY –RPL Programme (Recognition of Prior Learning) by training and certifying Airport House Keeping and Gardiner Staff. Till now over 400 candidates have been trained and certified. It has also trained Self-Help Women groups from surrounding villages in making jute products and helping them in marketing the products by providing a shop space in airport under the trade name EMPOWER.
Through its Community Development programmes, the foundation helps with Energy-efficient street lights, repair of drainage lines, new building for Anganwadis among other infra support to the communities.
As part of employee engagement, the GMR Employees and their families contribute time and effort for social causes and other need-based support. These interventions have led towards improving the quality of life and providing sustainable livelihood to the communities