Puritas Sath Diyawara of Hayleys Group wins National Energy Globe Award Sri Lanka 2017

Puritas, a subsidiary of Haycarb Plc and a member of the Hayleys Group, was presented with the National Energy Globe Award Sri Lanka 2017 in recognition of its efforts to provide quality drinking water for Sri Lankans living in areas affected by the Chronic Kidney Disease (CKDu).

Organised by the European Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka (ECCSL), the awards ceremony was graced by a prestigious group of invitees including Chief Guest and Commercial Counsellor at the Embassy of Austria based in New Delhi,India Dr. Oskar Andesner; Honorary Consul for Austria in Sri Lanka Senaka Amarasinghe; ECCSL Board Director Dilipan Tyagarajah and Director - In-house Legal Counsel John Wilson. Puritas Sath Diyawara is also among the four projects shortlisted for the Global Energy Globe World Awards in the Water category, to be held on 16 January 2018.

“We are delighted to have this award as an innovative CSR solution initiated and implemented by Puritas, with participation and funding from the many business sectors of the Hayleys Group that contributes to our leadership role in social responsibility as a winner of the Best Corporate Citizen award on multiple occasions,” commented Hayleys Plc Chairman and CEO Mohan Pandithage. 

Puritas said it was deeply honoured to have been presented with the National Energy Globe Award Sri Lanka 2017. It said that this award stood as further validation of the firm’s groundbreaking approach to corporate social responsibility – one which focuses on delivering the most benefit to underserved rural communities in order to revitalise them and place them on a path to a much brighter, healthier and happier future. I am thankful to the Puritas team and all the business sectors of the Hayleys group for their patronage,” stated Haycarb Plc Managing Director Rajitha Kariyawasan.

Extending lifesaving support to vulnerable communities across Sri Lanka’s North and North Central provinces, Hayleys’ Puritas Sath Diyawara initiative is focused on the establishment of Reverse Osmosis (RO) water, currently the only known solution to mitigate the ongoing CKDu outbreak in the dry zone.

“The success of Hayleys’ Puritas Sath Diyawara is founded on vibrant community engagement. Therefore in accepting this award, we must also acknowledge and express our heartfelt gratitude to all our team and the dedicated community leaders who have so generously given their time and effort to support these projects across the North and North-Central provinces,” commented Puritas Director Sharmila Ragunathan. 

Commenced in 2014, Puritas Sath Diyawara now covers 19 villages to provide over 160,000 litres of clean drinking water for over 33,000 Sri Lankans residing in water-stressed communities in the island’s dry zone. Having since grown to become the flagship CSR initiative of the Hayleys Group, Puritas Sath Diyawara continues to evolve, drawing on the support, resources and expertise of the highly diversified Hayleys Group.   

Each project is sponsored by a group company and to date the Hayleys Group has invested over Rs. 63 million in this initiative. It consists of a formalised water distribution network through a bowser and multiple docking stations throughout the village to ensure all villagers have equal access to purified water. Surveys are conducted on a regular basis to monitor the effectiveness of this initiative. 

Additionally, the initiative also funds the construction of community centres in close proximity to the RO plants, including the establishment of knowledge hubs which include libraries equipped with computers, internet connections, newspaper subscriptions, books, toys and activities to encourage domestic entrepreneurship in order to nurture the project into an initiative completely geared towards the improving quality of life of these vital rural communities. Under this initiative, school essentials are also provided annually to children in these villages and over 2,400 children have been provided with school items for the 2018 academic year.