Maruti Suzuki India expands water ATM programme to Sarhaul in Haryana

As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme, Maruti Suzuki India has identified access to clean drinking water as a critical need in its 26 adopted villages, located around its manufacturing plants, in the country.

To address the issue, the country’s largest carmaker has designed a self-sustaining partnership model that provides clean drinking water to the community members at an affordable price. As part of this, Maruti Suzuki today inaugurated its 12th water ATM facility, in Haryana.

The company has already set up 26 water ATMs across the country benefiting over 10,500 households. Yashpal Yadav, commissioner, Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) and A K Tomer, executive director, Corporate Planning, Maruti Suzuki, inaugurated the facility. Members of the Sarhaul community led by Vimal Yadav, former mayor of Gurugram, and Rimple Yadav, councilor, were also present for the inauguration ceremony. 

Supported by Maruti Suzuki and set up by Waterlife India, the water ATM facility is built on a self-sustaining model. While Maruti Suzuki has borne the initial cost of the project, MCG is the project owner and has provided the land. The MCG will also provide water and electricity to run the water ATM. Waterlife India will appoint a member from the local community to manage operations and maintain the plant for 10 years. Community members can avail the facility at a nominal rate of 35 paisa per litre only. As a unique feature of the advanced water filtration process, the waste water generated from this plant is around one-fourth of the other conventional water purification plants. Rejected water from the filtration process will be used to maintain the green area adjacent to the facility.

Inaugurating the water ATM in Haryana, Maruti Suzuki India’s A K Tomer said, “Sarhaul is a hub for people living and working in the nearby industrial area. Like many other locations in Gurugram, access to potable water is a common problem here. We are happy to set up this new facility. We are thankful to MCG team for entrusting us with this project and extending their full support to make it a success. Our teams through various dialogue sessions with the community leaders have identified key intervention areas that need immediate attention with long-term sustainable solution. One of it was access to potable drinking water. So far we have set up 12 such facilities to in Haryana. We plan to set up eight more in the next one year, six of these will be in Haryana.” 

Potable water, skill development, road safety initiatives
Community development is one of the three important pillars of Maruti Suzuki’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives – the other two being in the areas of road safety and skill development. All projects are aligned to the government of India’s objective of Swacch Bharat, Skill India and road safety.

With the objective to bring about an overall improvement in the quality of life of people residing around its manufacturing facilities, Maruti Suzuki has adopted 26 villages around its facilities in Gujarat and Haryana. Ensuring direct supervision and control, the company’s interventions under community development, are results-oriented and concentrated in the areas of providing clean water, better sanitation facilities, improved educational infrastructure and development of common community assets.