To mark Universal Children’s Day on November 20, the day on which the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1959 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989, Essar Steel’s Paradip complex opened its gates to the students of the Upper Primary School of nearby Nuagada village. Fifty students and teachers visited the complex, joined by the company’s enthusiastic employee volunteers.
The visitors were welcomed by the Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) team. Subsequently, Mr Subrat Mandal from the HSE Department explained and demonstrated the essentials of the safety equipment and the safety rules mandated inside the plant premises. The session was concluded by providing helmets to the visitors, which they were required to wear at all times once inside the plant premises.
After the briefing session on safety, company representatives explained to the schoolchildren what measures are undertaken by Essar Steel as part of its commitment to environment-friendly practices. Subsequently, each child was encouraged to plant a sapling at the plant. The children thoroughly enjoyed this session on ‘commitment to green’. After the plantation session the children were ready to go on an exciting tour of the plant and understand how it operates.
The visit to the plant area started with a viewing of the Corporate Film on Essar. Senior executives Mr M.K. Thakur and Mr K.K. Panda addressed the students. The students were then taken on a guided tour of the plant’s control room and were briefed about the operational procedures before being taken on a brief tour of the plant by employee volunteer Mr Sushant Kumar.
As the day came to a close, the schoolchildren and their teachers expressed joyfully how much they had enjoyed the visit and thanked the volunteers and the Essar Steel Paradip plant management for providing them an exciting learning opportunity as well on the Universal Children’s Day.
