Bharat Electronics Pays Tribute to Sir M Visvesvaraya Through CSR

Navaratna Defence PSU Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) is, as part of its CSR activities, paying tributes to Sir M Visvesvaraya by providing various facilities to two government schools in Kandavara and Chikkaballapur near Bangalore, Karnataka, where this eminent engineer and statesman had done his schooling.

BEL has constructed a Digital Library, gate and compound wall for the Government Model Higher Primary School, Kandavara, where Sir M Visvesvaraya had studied from Class I to V. The school has been painted and the classrooms renovated. BEL has also provided solar lighting for the school, apart from furniture for the Digital Library, at a total cost of Rs.32 lakhs. The Government High School at Chikkaballapur where Sir Visvesvaraya studied from Class VI to VIII has been provided with separate toilet blocks for boys and girls, at a cost of Rs.18 Lakhs.

The new facilities for the two schools will be formally handed over to the Deputy Director of Public Instructions, Chikkaballapur, Department of Public Instruction, Government of Karnataka, by Amol Newaskar, Director (Other Units), BEL, tomorrow (December 1, 2015). Senior officers from BEL including G Raghavendra Rao, Executive Director (HR)/BEL Corporate Office, Veeresh D Bevinamarad, General Manager (HR)/BEL-Bengaluru, and Arunachalam G, General Manager, (Engineering Services)/ BEL-Bengaluru, will be present.

BEL took up the two projects on the request of the then DDPI, Chikkaballapur, in February 2015. The schools at Kandavara and Chikkaballapur were selected as they were close to Muddenahalli, the birth place of Sir Visvesvaraya. The BEL team visited the two schools and found them lacking in infrastructure and sanitation. The entire work in the two schools was completed in time without compromising on quality.

BEL sets aside 2% of its net profits towards Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects and activities, for the benefit of the poor and the marginalised sections of the society. BEL’s CSR policy broadly covers areas such as health care, education and skill development, rural development, sanitation and potable drinking water, environment sustainability and conservation of natural resources.