Mr Naveen Patnaik, Hon'ble Chief Minister of Orissa today inaugurated and handed over 435 housing units constructed by the Tata Relief Committee (TRC) to the super-cyclone affected spread over six villages in Ambiki GP and one village in Japa GP in Erasama block of Jagatsinghpur district of Orissa. The area of each dwelling is of 250 sq ft.

Among those battling nature's wrath, TRC has always targeted the most in need. Formed in the year 1974, provision of relief and timely emergency help along with long term rehabilitation to those in distress has always been the principal goal of Tata Relief Committee.

Orissa being a coastal state is an important destination of TRC. It started relief operations in the State from 1974 when it worked in drought affected districts of Cuttack and Keonjhar. Since then TRC is continuously providing both emergency relief and long term rehabilitation whenever natural disasters have struck the state. Some of the major sites are rehabilitation of tornado hit villages of Keonjhar districts, rehabilitation for flood affected villages in Ganjam, Jagatsinghpur and Puri districts of Orissa.

One of the major initiatives of TRC in Orissa has been the distribution of emergency relief and permanent rehabilitation when super cyclone hit the State in 1999. In spite of impossible road and logistics conditions, TRC distributed emergency relief materials among 12,000 affected families in Ganjam, Jagatsinghpur, Keonjhar, Kendrapada, Jajpur and Mayurbhanj districts of Orissa. Doctors of Tata Main Hospital also played a major role in providing their services for the super-cyclone affected families. Emergency relief continued till winter with distribution of 1,00,000 blankets among the affected families as the cold weather was threatening the lives of survivors.

After the emergency relief work, TRC embarked upon an ambitious project of construction of 435 houses and three school-cum-cyclone shelters in Erasama block of Jagatsinghpur district and ten school-cum-cyclone shelters in five coastal districts of Orissa. The selection of villages was made after detailed survey and discussions with Orissa State Disaster Mitigation Authority and district administration. The buildings have been designed and constructed to rigid engineering standards and to withstand any future onslaught of nature's fury. TRC and the Steel Company has spent a lot of money for relief and rehabilitation activities for the families affected by nature's fury in Orissa.

The inauguration of this rehabilitation project once again reaffirms the commitment of Tata Steel towards the people of Orissa, which is continuing saga. The most recent initiative of TRC in Orissa is emergency relief distribution among more than 50,000 families affected by floods in 2001 in the districts of Cuttack, Jajpur, Puri, Kendrapada and Jagatsinghpur.