The act of Kindness amid the pandemic

Arvind Vihar, Bhopal Franchisee – Water. Org

Story by: Vaishali Sharma 

Picture courtesy: Jayendra Ji

The pandemic has indeed opened up new opportunities to enhance our potential by displaying humility towards self and others. We have realised now that there’s no need to rush upon things.

 

Empathy and humility is the key ingredient when helping those suffering from instability and pressure during this difficult situation. Our frontline workers, such as Asha workers, panchayat members, operators, sanitation workers, are also somehow susceptible to uncertainty and needs upliftment to manage themselves with positivity.

Similar to this context, today I am going to highlight some empathetic initiatives that were shared by the franchisee Jayendra Ji from Arvind Vihar, Bhopal. 

The franchise model is one of the models of Piramal Sarvajal that leverages the entrepreneurial skills of local people with their technology and equipment. With the support of water.org’s small financing to the franchisee, the plant was implemented to provide safe, affordable and accessible drinking water.

Figure1: Hand Gloves, sanitisers and masks have inculcated in daily habits among our frontliners 

When asked about the situations at the beginning of the lockdown, he shares “Amid the lockdown my family and closed ones were quite disturbed. Many of my friends who work in different places, wanted to come back to their hometown.”

“When the lockdown was announced, I and my team collectively decided to provide camper supply on alternate days as my employee’s health was on topmost priority to me”

Franchisee Jayendra Ji has 4 employees working under him. After a month of lockdown two of his workers wanted to go back to their village. They were unable to move, as there were no transportation facilities. Without any second thought, Jayendra Ji decided to arrange a car to drop them to their respective villages. 

He shared “maine mere employees ko bola acche se jaao koi tension nahi lena, baadme jab bhi situation theek hoti hai tabhi waapis aana”

Figure2: Campers are used only when they are sanitised properly

This shows how the franchisee treats his employees with humility as they are front liners and always ready to serve the community.  

The consumers have also agreed to receive campers on the alternate days and were satisfied with the decision.  

He shared “kitne log apne employees ko kaam se nikaal rahe hai, mai soch bhi nahi sakta ye cheeze kyonki isse insaan mentally bohot tut jaata hai. Maine shuruaat se abhi tak yahi bola hai, yaha raho araam se, kaam karo koi load nahi lena, aur yahi khaao piyo”

He further narrates “chaaro ke liye maine shuruaat mai hi sanitsers, gloves aur masks ka arrangement kar diya tha taaki koi bhi sankramit na ho paaye. Humare kaam ki wajah se unki families affect nahi honi chahiye. Baaki cheeze aaj nahi toh kal theek ho jaengi, kaam bhi chalega, par abhi apne logo ka dhyan rakhna aur support karna jyada zaruri hai”

He ends his conversation saying; “I am thankful that I have a home to stay and all basic facilities. 

By experiencing these situations in the last two months, I realised that we need to evolve mentally and display empathy towards others to deal with this pandemic which I believe can certainly reduce the spread of COVID-19 infection.”

Sarvajal Enterprises Management System showing total production- 50,990 litres and average daily production- 1,645 litres on a monthly basis.

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Adopting safe and affordable services of Sarvajal

Adopt a Village by HDFC Kheda, Madhya Pradesh

Story by Vaishali Sharma 

When the entire nation was lockdown, all our needs were going back to basics. The need of the hour was to get what was immediately available to the nearest. Hence the local market could easily suffice the need.

Similarly, think of it, if you have safe, affordable and accessible drinking facility at the nearest place then will you consider repairing your domestic RO machine when none of the servicemen is available to come to your home and do the needful. Even if it's is happening then how many of you are willing to pay a huge amount of maintenance charge during these tough situations? 

The same situation happened with many households at Kheda, Madhya Pradesh. It is one of the locations adopted by HDFC Life to provide safe drinking water facility to the villagers. These testing times, I happened to interact with our enthusiastic and young operator Vishal Patidar, Kheda location. 

He shared, “the village mainly consists of the Patidar community where the nearby households have RO water facility. Due to continuous lockdown, they were not getting any servicemen for the maintenance who could provide service at a decent rate. They were sceptical and felt unsafe to bring someone inside the house. Now it's been more than one month since many of them have switched to take water from our Sarvajal Kendra.” 

Figure 1: Sarvajal Kendra is regularly sanitised by the operator and consumers are maintaining social distancing.

It is so evident by his statements when we compare the monthly production data. And from the last month, there is a jump of 40% (Comparing March- 6501 litres and April- 9055 litres total production) which is indeed a sound response from the community. 

Figure 2: Sarvajal Enterprise Management System shows monthly data of April litre dispense

It shows that the access of domestic RO was there but people didn’t have a huge amount to pay for the maintenance. However, the villagers found Sarvajal services affordable and easily switched to our solution. Our operator follows a safety guideline, sanitising the ATM all the time, reminding people to maintain social distancing and asking villagers to wash their hands and utensils. 

He kept going "logo mai ab ek respect wali bhavna hai ki unke gaon ke hit ke liye ye suvidha hai jo aas paas nahi hai.” It’s a matter of pride for them to have Sarvajal Kendra in their village whereas in the neighbouring village such a facility is not available. 

Because of the unavailability of servicemen, the charges also increased and our operator happened to calculate and compare a one-time service charge of Domestic RO with a yearly take-home price of Sarvajal. He shared "Mai toh sabhi ko ek hi baat bolta hu ek mahine ki servicing ke liye aap 2000 rupeeye doge, yaha Sarvajal ka paani poore saal ke liye bhi 2000 rupeeye jyada hai"  From his words, I realised how important it is to make our consumers understand the financial comparison and the overall benefits of it. 

One of the consumers, Ghanshyam Verma Ji now sends his kids to take water. Their home is half a km away from the plant. He shared “the little ones are just 8-10 years old. They come with their bicycle and feel comfortable to take water from our plant" says Vishal ji. 

In the end, he said "during such health crises, I am glad people are realising on their own and have started taking safe water. Now the consumers have taken for a month and I am sure they will continue to take the same. I would be reinforcing the positive impact among my customers so that they become consistent in taking safe water”

While conversing with him I also got to know that the Gram panchayat has bought another card where they provide camper facility to the people who comes from outside and are quarantined for 14 days. They were concerned about the people as the raw water TDS is more than 1000 pmm which is not safe to have. 

This shows that people are now collectively taking care of their health consciously and choosing what is right at this point of time by considering safe and affordable choices in life. 

It says, “Water is the foremost cure and good medicine as well.”

Figure 3 Consumers regularly cover their mouth and wash sanitise utensils before filling safe water

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Changing lives by changing behaviour

Hariawan, Uttar Pardesh

Story by Vaishali Sharma 

Making a lasting change in behaviour is rarely a simple process and usually requires self-commitment towards the effort and time we give. Each specific action for a better lifestyle is one step ahead for our change in behaviour. 

Here, I am going to talk about some actions taken by the community of Hariawan, Uttar Pradesh for the betterment of their overall health and life during the global pandemic of COVID-19. The community is adopted by DSCL Sugar (DCM Shriram Consolidated Limited) and partnered with Piramal Sarvajal to provide affordable, accessible and safe drinking water.  

I happened to interact with our location Operator Gaurav Ji to know the situations and visible changes in the past two months among the community members. 

Figure 1 Consumers are regularly sanitising utensils, wearing a mask and maintaining social distancing

He shared that "the community has started taking precautions and solely taking responsibility to protect their self. Now, we don't have to look for anyone who is maintaining the precautionary measures and who is not. From social distancing to regular washing and sanitising hands and their utensils is all now ingrained among them." "Log ab apna bachaav khudh kar rahe hai. Sabme bohot badlaav aate hue dekha hai. Aur jo shruksha ke liye baate batai hai woh apne app kar rahe hai. Social distancing karna, hath dhona, bartan saaf karte rehna."

He continued, "We are blessed that our village has a mic facility which plays a major role during these difficult times. With the help of mic, we are consistently sharing that it is utmost important to regularly clean our surroundings, home and have safe water and food." "Saaf aur swach khana banaye, saaf paani ka hi sevan kare aur swayam ko bhi lagataar saaf rakhe toh bimaariyo se bachenge”

One of the customers Somendra Singh (30 years old) stays 2 km away from the plant, has made a card and now having water from our Sarvajal Kendra. The conditions have made many such individuals realise that to protect ourselves from this invisible virus it is important to have safe drinking water and keep up with a good level of immunity. 

He shared that from March, he has made 23 new RFID cards.  By listening to this, I happily replied and said that the improvement in the water off-take is increased by 84% (Comparing March- 9377 litres from April- 17179 litres of total production) 

Figure 2 Sarvajal Enterprise Management System showing total production and Avg. production per day

He continued telling "with the new cardholders I regularly take feedback regarding the taste of water and how they feel after taking it for a week." 

“While looking at their neighbours most of them have started taking water.” ("Apne aas paas ke logo ko dekhkar bhi logo ne saaf paani lena shuru kar diya hai")

Consumer Prabhat Mishra told him "Gaurav Ji Handpump ko to koi sanitize nahi karta toh kitna jyada risk waha se paani lena. Aap toh mera card banwa dijiye mai sarvajal se hi paani lunga. Ye saaf paani hai aur har waqt aap ise senitise bhi karte hai. Virus ab jaldi jaane se nahi raha tho apna bachaav kudh karke chalte hai" It is difficult to take water from the hand pump which is not sanitised and risky to take. This virus will not go easily, it is better we should all take care of ourselves. Sarvajal water facility is sanitised properly and is safe to have regularly. 

I had a very positive and engaging conversation with the operator, wished him good health before finishing the call. He reciprocated and gave me a nostalgic feeling "madam aap bhi social distancing rakhe, ghar ka khaana aur saaf paani peeye, bahar ka pizza nahi khaaega, delivery boys ko bhi virus lag raha hai ab toh mai rozana news padhta hu jabse corona felna shuru hua hai" 

Listening to him I realised how positively the community is taking action for their better lifestyle and protecting themselves from this virus. Let’s take inspiration from this community and take measures consciously for self and others. 

Let's build our actions in a positive direction by changing our behaviour for a better and enhanced living with safe and affordable services of Sarvajal 

Figure 3 Sanitising plant and community lanes regularly

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A Tale of Optimism: Unsung Heroes of Sarvajal

As India grinds to a halt with more than two months of a nationwide lockdown and lakhs of people from all walks of life stranded in different places wanting to go back to their families, facing monetary challenges and living alone often feel stuck and helpless. In this time of spiralling chaos and uncertainty, Jay Raval writes about the ground force – 2 Junior Field Engineers of Sarvajal who were at the field when the lockdown was announced. We have corona warriors or heroes in form of healthcare staff, policeman and others, but after going through these stories, let’s take a pause and thank these unsung heroes who were miles away from family and friends, adapting themselves in unfamiliar places, conforming to lockdown protocol with patience and peace.    

In such times of despair, when many find it difficult to look for a light at the end of the tunnel, there is someone who hasn’t lost hope. Sahdev Tandel, a 25-year-old, a young engineer looks forward to returning home, residing inside his hotel room in Bengaluru.  Working since 2015 with Sarvajal, Sahdev handles different locations in southern and western parts of the country. Sahdev from Billimora, Gujarat has been out from his home since March. On the 15th of March, 2020 he left from his place for Mysuru. A day before lockdown, when he arrived in Bengaluru from Mysore, he had plans to travel back. With the announcement of lockdown, his train booking got cancelled and he had to be in Bengaluru. Being confined at one place and not able to move out can sometimes be very stressful. But when asked about how he is feeling and whether there are any difficulties, Sahdev in an optimistic tone replies “Nani moti toh amuk vaar aavya kare”.  He further added that he got all the required support from Sarvajal, there were regular calls from HR and Operations team asking for his well –being and whether he needs something.

On being asked about his experience of being locked in a hotel room for the past two months he said “Initially it started to feel like he is locked up inside a jail, with very limited interactions with the hotel staff and calls from family”. Sahdev says his frequent field travel, was never an issue for him, but not been able at the field sometimes bother him, yet on a positive note, he ends that conversation by saying, “Can’t wait to get back to work and contribute towards fulfilling  Sarvajal’ s goals”. 

Ekanand Pathak, a junior field engineer working in Sarvajal for the past 6 years had to stay back in Udaipur, Rajasthan when the lockdown was announced. 

During the initial 8-9 days, he managed to find a hotel to stay in but the stay did not last long, because the hotel was shut for stay with all the staff leaving. He shifted to the second hotel where he stayed for a month. There also the hotel got shut as staff left. With temperatures soaring high in the desert state of Rajasthan, many nights Ekanand would sweat profusely in the hotel room with dysfunctional fan. Despite all this and his family members concerned about him, Ekanand continued to work, addressing operational issues, helping the plant operators through phone and video calls. There were times when he even thought about walking a distance of around 550 km. to reach his hometown Bharatpur, but Ekanand gave his thoughts and impatience a halt and waited for the situation to get better. 

His optimism didn’t fail even once and when the government eased the restrictions and started issuing passes for intrastate movement, with support from the organisation, Ekanand was able to get the pass and reach hometown safely on May 9th. As a safeguard protocol, he was home quarantined for a period of 14 days. Ekanand is now safe and reunited with his family and is thankful to on-field team and organisation including the Regional Manager, Neeraj and Territory Manager, Tarun, HR team who provided him immense support during this difficult period.

The above two stories are prime examples of optimism and patience and how it can help overcome even the most adverse of situations. These two brave heroes of Sarvajal have set up an example for each one of us to follow.

        

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“Sankat Mochan” Sarvajal - Providing safe drinking water in times of crisis

Sarvajal safe drinking water facility at Shahbad Daulatpur providing an uninterrupted supply of safe drinking water in corona lockdown down situation is emerging as a reliable drinking water source.

In Delhi's slums, where water and space are scarce, COVID prevention measures like handwashing is indeed a luxury and practising social distancing is difficult. In such unpredictable times, Sarvajal safe drinking water facility for Shahbad Dairy slum dwellers stands out as a reliable, safe drinking water source, finds out Jay Raval, after interacting with Sarvajal consumers.

Getting water in Delhi's slums has been a challenge. The lockdown and summer season has left some fearing and unsure about the continuous supply of water, deepening the water crisis. 

In Shahbad Daulatpur slum, with an erratic supply of water, which is sometimes muddy and lack of servicing of domestic RO water purifiers, slum dwellers are switching to Sarvajal Drinking Water facility located in the slum. 

Sawan Kumar who made his Sarvajal card in the lockdown down period and has been taking 18 litres of water every day says “ Now nobody will come to repair my domestic purifier, it's better to take the filtered water from the plant”. Similar concerns are echoed by Mitin Kumar who shares “Domestic purifier is not working and I can not take risk of getting repairs by anyone”. After the lockdown, around 50 new cards have been created and 155 cardholders who haven’t taken water from the facility till date are taking water from the Sarvajal plant since the past 3 months.   

With increasing infection, the community does not want to take risk of taking water from a crowded place or falling sick by consuming unsafe water.

Sarvajal offers a safe space with COVID prevention measures like sanitising the ATM and social distancing. 

Vandana Devi, mother of two says, “Tankers does not come every day. If they come we need to stand in a long line and I can’t do that because crowds gather and there are chances of local transmission of coronavirus. At Sarvajal plant there is no such crowd”

Another Shahbad resident Kripa Shankar who has 5 members in the family says, “I was drinking supply water and the water is muddy, why I should make me and my family unwell when we have Sarvajal”.

DJB Shahbad Dairy April vs March volume jump is 41%, (March’20 average per day dispense-  6624 litres & April’20 average per day dispense is 9670 litres.  As compared to last April, 72% volume jump has been reported.

Sarvajal stands with everyone in these toughest times. The operator, the team,  the organization stands to ensure uninterrupted access to safe drinking water facility to underserved with corona safeguard measures at the plant premises. 

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Poem by Meenu Ratnani!

यह  जमबोरी है भई जमबोरी

इन्द्रधनुष जेसी रंगों से भरी,

कभी सीखा गयी, कभी हँसा गयी

कभी  रुला गयीl

हुई शुरुआत इसकी जब अनुज ने पूछा स्कोपिंग जमबोरी के बाद, कौन सी टीम करेगी अगली जमबोरी, उत्साह पूर्वक हाथ उठाया हमने

कहा कॉम टीम करेगी अगली जमबोरी।

पूछे गए अनेक सवाल और हर सवाल था बेमिसाल  बना पाँच दिन का कार्यक्रम ,

उदेश्य था मिल जुल कर जानने और

सीखने का, ताकि हर जन तक पहुंचे शुद्ध सर्वजल,

कॉम  की भूमिका पर जोर देने का,

कोशिश थी विभिन्न टीम के सदस्यों का बने समागम,

मिल कर कुछ करने  का रखते है दम। 

पहला गगन्तव्य था  जयपुर ,

जहा हमने pcds के बारे में जाना,

मशीन का चलना है जरुरी यह सबने माना, कम्मुनिटी का विश्ववास फिर बना,

आदित्य का नामुमकिन से मुमकिन,

दिलबरी की  उमग  और तरूण के

टैलेंट ने कर दिया  दंग, 

साइट और कस्टमर प्रोफाइल के

बिना नहीं चलेगा काम,

बेसलाइन और स्कोपिंग जानकारी के बिना नहीं रखना है फील्ड में कदम,

हम  नुक्कड़ नाटक और टॉक शो का रखते है दम।

अगला पड़ाव था गुजरात, 

जहा की निराली थी हर बात,

गाव् थे चार , वाटर ओफटाके न होने के कारण थे  हज़ार,

बेसलाइन का डाटा किया इस्तेमाल,  

सर्वजल के प्रचार , स्कूल ड्राइव, जल कथा और रैली से किया धमाल,

कम्युनिटी के प्रति, ऑपरेटर भाई 

अपनी जिम्मेदारी न देना टाल,

नहीं तो फिर उठजायेंगे सवाल।

तीसरा और आखिरी पड़ाव था भुवनेश्वर ,

लगाना था यहाँ कई गुना जोर क्योंकि पांच गुना पानी निकलने की उम्मीद थी भरपूर,

अर्बन, ऑपरेशन्स, आईटी, scm, मार्केटिंग, सेल्स और कॉम टीम का बनाया एक दस्ता,

ngos को साथ लेकर, लगा कर कैनोपी,

बजा कर सर्वजल जिंगल, कम्मुनिटी को किया जागरूक, बेहतर स्वास्थ्य, उम्दा क्वालिटी, वाजिब मूल्य का दिया वास्ता । 

चाहे हो बस्ती या हो सार्वजनिक स्थल, कम्युनिटी को साथ रखने, हुई bmc के साथ सुनवाई,

लोगो को जागरूक करना है कितना जरुरी यह बात उनको भी समझाई,

कार्ड हो एक्टिव, तो कर सकते है धाक के तीन पात।

अभी और बहुत कुछ करना और सीखना, उस को ले कर थी विचारो मैं गुम, तभी मेंरे 11 वर्षीय बेटे ने पूछा माँ कब है अगली जमबोरी।

                  

                                                                                                  ~ Meenu Ratnani

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Sarvajal Front-Line Workers

INDIA IS AT A CRITICAL STAGE IN ITS FIGHT AGAINST CORONAVIRUS AS FEARS OF COMMUNITY TRANSMISSIONS RISE. DURING ITS LOCKDOWN FRONTLINE WORKERS OF OUR ORGANISATION ARE STILL GOING OUT EVERY DAY TO PROVIDE SAFE DRINKING WATER FACILITY TO CONSUMERS. 

 I SPOKE TO SAGAR PATIL WHO IS AN OPERATOR OF HDFC LIFE SUPPORTED LOCATION AT KUNDANE, MAHARASHTRA  FOLLOWING IS AN EXCERPT FROM THE CONVERSATION.

___________________________________________________________

Story by Jay Raval

Sagar Patil, aged 28 years has been working as the plant operator, since the plant was inaugurated. Young and energetic, Sagar who resides in the village is familiar with the village and community. He was part of behavior change communication led interventions in 2019, supporting the team in identifying the households in the and providing language support during the conduct of intervention.  

During my last visit at Kundane, he shared that he is constructing a new house in the village. In the starting of the conversation, he mentions that “Sir woh ghar ka bataya tha na, uske kaam meh tha aapke call ane se pehle” and curiously asks how is everything in Ahmedabad. 

Sarvajal Consumers are following social distancing while taking water from plant at Kundane

Then quickly he adds about the water situation, “Sir do you know in our village community members are much tensed and no one is going to take water from the Phata”. Phata is a place 3 km away from Kundane where most of the people bring drinking water available free from a govt pipeline (illegally broken). From where they are fetching water now? I asked. Sagar quickly responds “Sir, those who were going to take water from Phata, most of them are now taking water from the Sarvajal plant”. This is quite evident when one seems water offtake which has increased by 50% when compared with last month, dispensing 1000 litres per day. Sagar shares a concern “Demand for the cards have increased, and people have paid money in advance, but I don’t have any cards”.  As there is a shortage of new Sarvajal RFID cards, I suggest that you do a recharge of 1000 for 10 consumers in your card and start maintaining the dispense data of those 10 consumers in hard copy. He appreciates the suggestion and our conversation moves further. 

Sagar enthusiastically talks about the corona prevention steps he has taken for the Sarvajal safe drinking water facility. His resourcefulness in ensuring the continuous supply of water at the plant is evident when he says “Along with sanitising the ATM and the premises, I have cleaned the membrane with the help of one of my friends as no JFE can travel in this lockdown. I did not mind spending my own money to get the materials for the Sarvajal plant.

There was one spare tank, as there is a shortage of the water from gram panchayat I have started using that tank for storing the water”

Boys and men…young and experienced aged group of people maintaining, 

'दो गज की दूरी'

Sagar is well connected with the community and he is aware about consumers who are not taking water. He adds “I have requested those consumers who are not taking water to share their card with needy community members”. There is a sense of pride and belonging when he says “Sir humara pani ek baar pite hai toh aadat jaegi hi nai,  esa log bolne lag gae hai.”

Sagar spends major time of the day at Sarvajal plant, following the COVID safeguards, interacting with those who come to take water. Twice a day he starts the purification tank process and in free time for his entertainment watches movies. He understands the importance of providing safe drinking water in this difficult time. He tells that Gram Sevak (sarpanch) and influential members of the community are requesting others to take water from Sarvajal as there are very less chances to get a virus while taking the water. Women are vocal about telling other community members, especially when someone does not obey the social distancing at Sarvajal plant. He ends the conversation by telling, “With our initiatives, villagers are being made aware about safeguards against COVID-19”. Both I and front-line warrior disconnected the call with hope in our hearts and smiles on our faces.

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A healthy community is a happy community!

In the global pandemic, we all are fighting with the invisible enemy. 

The lockdown is being extended to control the situation however it is very challenging for many especially daily wage earners who are now running out of basic necessities to sustain their life.

In one of our locations Gowndarpallyam in Tamil Nadu where safe drinking water facility is blessed under Jal Jeevan initiative of Hinduja Foundation and Ashok Leyland. 

A village water committee has been set up and their prime responsibility is managing the plant operations so safe drinking water is provided to the community. They ensure water plant and ATM is regularly cleaned, sanitized and continue to serve safe water to the community. Our operator Mrs. Sabana is educating the users to follow hygiene practices such as handwashing, washing utensils before refilling and practise social distancing while queuing at the ATM. 

During these tough times, when moving out is not allowed, all the villagers are face problem in getting groceries and other basic stuff. Mr.Purushothaman, Mr. Venkatesh and Mr.Ramaamoothy who are a part of the VWC decided to come forward to provide necessities such as grocery, masks and other essential items to destitute women, elders and along with migrant people.

By now, they have already distributed necessary items to 240 households and continued to support to migrant people with all facilities. They also mobilised funds so basic and essential items can be provided regularly to the needy in the village.

Initially, 5 kg of rice were distributed to the households

The conditions of being panic and having stress are better now and they are getting support from the government now as shared by the VWC members.

The rigour of continuously doing every bit of it to provide relief and reduce panic during such difficult times is commendable. It is now the responsibility of all of us to join hands and overcome from this global situation together. 

As it says "we shall overcome ONE DAY" 

#letsbehopeful #staysafe

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