Coimbatore: As part of its corporate social responsibility, HCL Foundation proposes to cover over 9.11 lakh people in 3,567 villages in 26 district across 12 States through its programmes, according to a top official.

The foundation would award Rs 5 crore per category – education, health and environment – as grant to each NGO against a well-defined five-year project, and also committed Rs 35 crore over three years, foundation head and CSR Director Nidhi Pundhir told mediapersons here.

The projects in the last three years already covered 2.07 lakh beneficiaries. The projects were already operation in Bihar, UP, Rajasthan, Gujarat, West Bengal, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Nagaland, she said.

The foundation was now focusing more on health sector, particularly rural areas where proper infrastructure was not available.

In Tamil Nadu, the foundation focused on a biodiversity of Nilgiris in the Western Ghats, said

Nidhi. He was here to attend a symposium for capacity building of NGOs on the theme of ‘CSR for National Building’.

The foundation had opened application for HCL grant for 2019 and the last date to submit applications was June 4 and three NGOs would be selected in three categories.