Murugappa group to promote drip irrigation

The Chennai-based Murugappa group will soon undertake a campaign to promote drip irrigation by the farmers in Andhra Pradesh.

The campaign has been planned in view of the fast depletion of the groundwater table in the state, according to A Vellayan, director (marketing and external affairs) of the group.

Vellayan said the Murugappa group was also working with farmers in Andhra Pradesh to facilitate adoption of best farming practices. Model farms were being set up in rural areas near Visakhapatnam and Kakinada for the purpose, he said.

He was speaking on the occasion of announcing the initiatives of AMM Foundation run by the Murugappa group.

AMM Foundation has funded the construction of a new block at St Ann's Hospital in Visakhapatnam. The new block named after Bharat Ram, the former chairman of Coromandel Fertilisers Limited (CFL), will be inaugurated on Friday.

M V Subbaiah, trustee of AMM Foundation, said that the foundation had extended a financial assistance of Rs 60 lakh to St Ann's Hospital. This assistance was the first major initiative of the Murugappa group as part of its community initiatives in the state of Andhra Pradesh, he said.

Since the group had made significant investments in Andhra Pradesh through its companies CFL and Godavari Fertilisers and Chemicals Limited, it was natural to extend the group's community initiatives to Andhra Pradesh, he said.

CFL has already been activity taking part in community development, particularly for the welfare of farmers. Its initiatives include running free medical camps, family welfare campus, support to Helen Keller Society for the Blind based in Vizag, pulse polio programmes and blood donation camps, Subbaiah said.

R Ramkumar, general secretary of AMM Foundation, said that all the companies under the Murugappa group were contributing one per cent of their net profits to help run the programmes of the foundation.

The assistance was of the order of Rs 1.5 crore a year, he said.

Pointing out that the government can not do everything for the welfare of people, he said the group's community initiatives were based on the motto that "Without social welfare, personal well-being is meaningless."

AMM Foundation also runs four schools, four hospitals and one polytechnic in Tamil Nadu, he said.