“Keep going to Udvada”

While chatting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a function to inaugurate Appasaheb Pawar Auditorium at Baramati in February 2015, Dr Cyrus Poonawalla briefed Modi about the low priced vaccines his company manufactured in Poona that save the lives of millions of children throughout the world. The billionaire businessman and philanthropist extended an invitation to the Prime Minister to visit the Poona based Serum Institute of India (SII), the largest manufacturer of vaccines in the world. Another incentive for Modi to visit was the Rs 100 crore (USD 14.7 million) donation that Poonawalla’s son Adar made to the Poona Municipal Corporation in November 2015 to assist in keeping the city clean (see "A clean collaboration,” Parsiana January 2016), a cause dear to Modi’s heart. The Prime Minister had in October 2014 launched the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Mission), aimed at encouraging citizens to keep their environs clean. Modi promised to visit one day, narrated the senior Poonawalla.

"When I came to know from my college friend (National Congress Party chief) Sharad Pawar he (Modi) was coming to Poona to visit the Vasantdada Sugar Institute about 10 minutes away from our plant, I felt this was a unique opportunity for him to visit if he could spare his valuable time. His visit would be a great honor for the Poonawalla family, for the Prime Minister rarely visits private institutions,” said the entrepreneur. "The most significant aspect is that we are one of the very few companies that is in a position to showcase and implement the Swachh Bharat ideals. He was impressed with the Adar Poonawalla Clean City Movement that my son had launched. Adar was keen to do something for the city. What better project than one that what was dear to the Prime Minister’s heart?”
The donation resulted in around 150 cleaning vans with vacuum suction equipment being procured. The garbage collected is being "changed into green energy” through a plant located on the outskirts of the city in Talegaon.
"Adar spends a lot of his time supervising the project on a day-to-day basis,” says the father. He has a WhatsApp group through which he also monitors the working and "demonstrated to the PM” how the texting service was utilized.
The website adarpcleancity.com notes that the first phase of the project "will cover roughly 30 km of roads in Poona. The second phase will reach the whole city which has approximately 12,000 km of roads and if all that succeeds, this model can be replicated in other cities. The vacuum suction machines with which the trucks are equipped are being used for the first time in India…”
The website acknowledges the project’s indebtedness to "key partnerships” which included Noble Exchange to manage and process the waste in a green manner and of the Poona Municipal Corporation under the guidance of commissioner Kunal Kumar. A total of 44,960 tons of garbage have been processed till December l8, 2016.

From far left: Modi with Adar and Dr Cyrus

A suction machine at work cleaning garbage

Adar Poonawalla Clean City Initiative

Referring to the SII, the elder Poonawalla stated that Modi "wanted to see for himself what was being done to make life saving vaccines at the lowest possible prices. We were very impressed with the Prime Minister’s knowledge and interest in public help.”
In a quest to get "protection from various diseases” the SII had created vaccines for rotovirus and measles rubella (German measles). "We donated Rs 90 crores worth of measles rubella vaccines (20 million doses) to the health ministry to quick start this ambitious project to protect all children.”
Poonawalla noted that SII sells "more vaccines abroad. India was not buying them (‘létata nai’). UNICEF (United Nations International Child’s Emergency Fund) and Pan American countries are the major buyers. The Prime Minister however has made the protection of children a priority.”
"I gathered he (Modi) had a soft corner for the Parsi community. He asked me ‘How often do you go to Udvada?’ I explained my wife (Villoo) regularly went and donated money to the priests, a practice which I continue. Modi has an outstanding memory. He recalled my attending the Udvada Utsav and garlanding finance minister Arun Jaitley who came in Modi’s place. Jaitley had informed him of the happenings.” Prior to becoming the prime minister, Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat and had addressed a large gathering of Parsis in Udvada in April 2011. As a parting shot Modi told Poonawalla "I hope you keep going to Udvada.”
The Poonawalla family has also donated money for the Villoo Poonawalla Memorial Hospital (VPMH) on the Poona-Solapur Highway at Hadapsar. "We always wanted a charitable Hospital,” says the senior Poonawalla. It will be "inaugurated shortly as a charitable hospital.” The VPMH will "give affordable treatment starting with the general ward charging Rs 400 per patient including meals.” Initially there are 60 beds which they plans to increase to 100.
The VPMH website notes the hospital has been "constructed, equipped and commissioned by the Welfare Medical Foundation in assistance with and assistance from SII who have provided whole-hearted financial and logistical support.”
Was the family’s philanthropy directed at any specific objectives? Poonawalla replied candidly that they had an "ad hoc” approach. "Whatever projects appeal to us, we take up.” The family has not created a trust and instead makes donations from their personal income.
Unlike other eminent Parsis who have maintained a stoic silence on the dispute between Tata Trusts chairman Ratan Tata and former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry, the senior Poonawalla told the Zee Business television channel that he was "aghast at the manner in which Tata Sons board summarily dismissed Mistry… The abrupt (exit) lowered the public image of all concerned” especially with allegations and counter allegations being made in public. He told Parsiana the matter could have been handled "in a more classy manner.” They were all icons of the Parsi community, he observed.