ROADIS, a Spanish infrastructure major, has undertaken Indian road projects including a 192 km stretch from Varanasi to Aurangabad, a 92 km stretch from Kishangarh to Beawar, and a 132 km stretch from Surat Hazira Port to the Maharashtra border. They are not here just to build roads and highways, but also strongly believe that they can go beyond business and contribute to society and the community in many ways. Their projects are connected with the community’s welfare and growth. In the last couple of years, they have transformed a number of villages, the people, and contributed to the welfare of children.
“We are a purpose-driven organisation, and for us it is not just working on our business. The order that we follow is people, planet, profits. We are working towards creating sustainable community development plans, and it is very critical for us,” explains Ena Chakravorty, Communications & CSR Director – India, ROADIS. They are focusing on three key areas: education, sports, and healthcare. In Varanasi, the concept of learning has evolved from traditional school education to smart classrooms, with football training for children supported by the Real Madrid Foundation, and healthcare facilities provided to villagers and children, also with the support of the Hans Foundation.
Kinship for Humanitarian, Social and Holistic Intervention (KHUSHII) has been working in India since 2003 and started its work with schools and students as an entry point in urban slums through Shikshaantra programmes. This programme focused on academic and counselling support to enable students from underprivileged families to continue their education. With the adoption of a total of 10 schools – 3 in Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh), 2 in Bihar, 4 in Surat (Gujarat), and 1 in Ajmer (Rajasthan) – ROADIS schools are located close to their road projects for ease and efficiency of operations. These schools provide all basic facilities to children for day-to-day learning, digital tools, and counselling support to a section of students.
Positive impact
“If you have good infrastructure, it means you are giving a good foundation to the children. We also involve children in creative work by painting school walls and classrooms. We have given them one IT computer teacher and one mental counselling teacher. We take education and learning to the next level. That is where we introduce smart classrooms, so every class you see has a smart classroom. Because of the smart classrooms, the children became so engaged that they loved it,” adds Ena. Due to all these developments at the school, attendance has increased, the attrition rate has dropped, and, along with the smart classrooms, they have also provided computers.
“What next? We have introduced a Real Madrid Foundation programme here. Two hundred students from two of our schools are getting coaching from Real Madrid coaches. Why football? The intent is to introduce a new sport to them at a global level. And what can they learn through sport? Through sport, we are giving them value education, leadership training, team building, and collaboration. These are the values we are imparting, so that when they go out, they are equipped in a way to stand out in the world and have an equal opportunity,” adds Ena.
Moving on to the next level, ROADIS, with support from the Hans Foundation, deployed mobile medical units (MMU) to villages in Varanasi. “We started our first four MMUs in 2022. Earlier, these four units used to go to four blocks, each block consisting of 22 villages. We used to treat 70,000-80,000 people. When we saw the positive impact, we added another MMU in 2024, and now we cover 110 villages in total, five blocks, and provide medical facilities for more than one lakh people. The five-member healthcare team covers two villages in a day. These MMUs have been deployed in Varanasi to bring doorstep healthcare access to underserved communities. From health checkups to blood tests to medicines, all are completely free of cost,” elaborates Ena. The medical mobile team has so far successfully treated about half a million patients.