New Delhi, March 22 (TIWN) Mining major Vedanta Ltd on Sunday announced the setting up of a Rs 100 crore fund to support daily wage workers, and employees along with healthcare measures for the communities staying in and around its plant locations.

As part of other measures, Vedanta will not cut salaries or layoff any staff, including temporary workers during this crisis period, the company said in a statement.  "Vedanta Ltd today announced setting up of a dedicated Rs 100 crore fund as part of its endeavour to join ranks with the Government of India to combat the widespread outbreak of deadly COVID-19. The fund will cater to three specific areas -- livelihood of the daily wage worker, employees and contract workers, preventive health care and will provide timely help to communities in and around various plant locations of the company," it said. 

The group has also decided to provide special one time insurance to cover Vedanta''s employees and their families against coronavirus. Further, all mobile health vans in operational areas will aide in preventive healthcare and each business unit will contribute towards the livelihood of daily wage earners around plant locations like tea sellers and vegetable vendors, the company said.  Anil Agarwal, Executive Chairman, Vedanta Resources Ltd, said that corporate houses should assist the government in the fight against this deadly virus by contributing to the best of their ability so that the nation has adequate resources to take care of its citizens and provide both medical and financial assistance. 

"This fund is a first step on Vedanta''s behalf and we will increase the corpus if the need arises. Further, we will also assist the communities at our various locations in case of loss of livelihood. I request every citizen in the country to stay safe and act responsibly and I am deeply concerned about our people but if we stay positive and take adequate precautions, we will emerge stronger," he said.  The company further said that Vedanta and its subsidiaries have been working closely with communities across their locations on multiple development initiatives.