CTC improves the lives of Meerigama residents

Ceylon Tobacco Company (CTC) conducted a program recently to provide sanitation facilities to over 200 underprivileged families of Meerigama.

Meerigama, a middle-income earning area in the Western Province was identified as having a critical need for clean and essential sanitary facilities.

Research conducted by 139 Grama Niladari's in the Meerigama Divisional Secretariat Division, showed that 1,237 of the 43,134 families in the area did not have access to sufficient sanitation facilities.

The company, therefore, decided to assist these low income families, providing them with building materials such as cement, cement blocks, metal, roofing sheets and toilet fittings worth up to Rs. 30,000, while the families themselves undertook construction of the infrastructure.

The project has helped raise the standard of living among 266 families in the area.

CSR Manager, CTC, Senaka de Fonseka said, "Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility are essential components of CTC's business ethics that underpins the company's efforts of being a corporate benchmark in Sri Lanka."

"We constantly strive to identify crucial areas of development among various communities and provide means that elevate the quality of their lives. The company has consistently and substantially invested in social and economic advancement of numerous rural and urban communities living below the poverty line," he said.

"Our long-term objective is to sustain development and we believe this can be done by giving communities the opportunity to help themselves," Fonseka said.