Tata Steel is all set to take this project forward and will do everything necessary to take the people along. A small section of the people who are opposing the project due to lack of clarity and misplaced fears need to be addressed and taken along. The company is confident that with the help of the State government, it can address all these issues and work together with the people of Tamil Nadu to convert the districts of Tuticorin and Tirunelveli in to an industrial destination.

Tata Steel had a choice amongst Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Orrisa to set up this Titanium-di-oxide plant and the company made a conscious decision to come to Tamil Nadu to set it up just as it chose Jamshedpur over a hundred years ago or Bastar in Chhattisgarh a few years ago. Jamshedpur is today a model city, and its growth is largely a result of its association with the Tatas. Tata Steel is determined to transform the backward barren districts of Tuticorin and Tirunelveli into another model city, according to Mr. B. Muthuraman, Managing Director, Tata Steel. This will be possible only if the tatanuim di-oxide project comes up in Tamil Nadu.

The Tata Group is no stranger to Tamil Nadu; it employs 35,000 people making the Group the single largest employer in the state. Tata Steel is confident that this project will enhance the livelihood and income generation capacity of the population in these affected districts and improve the quality of their lives. Over 1,000 people will be directly employed in the factory. These people will be selected from those landowners who have parted with their land and have undergone an extensive training program at the training academy that would be set up by Tata Steel. The company will train these youngsters at its own cost and make them employable by the time the plant comes up. Apart from this, over 3,000 people will be indirectly employed. Tata Steel will also provide various livelihood programs to enhance the lives of the people. Every land owner will be enrolled in the Tata Kudumbam (Tata Family), and the company will monitor the income levels of every single family and strive to improve the quality of their lives. Tata Steel is also planning to engage people in social development activities. Mr.Muthuraman further added that he is prepared to take some of the people to places like Jamshedpur and Orissa, to show them what Tata Steel has done for the people.

Commenting on the Group's Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives, Mr. Muthuraman said the group had adopted 650 villages near Jamshedpur and its other operations for the sole reason of their upliftment. This includes making substantial investments to make them fully self reliant, providing them medical facilities, enhancing their income standards by imparting vocational training, education facilities, agricultural innovations etc. Last year, the Tata Group spent Rs. 800 crore on society, and in Tamil Nadu, in the last five years the Group spent Rs. 85 crore to discharge its corporate social responsibility. Last year alone, the Group had spent Rs. 35 crore on Tsunami relief. No other corporate in the world has spent this amount of money on society.

Tata Steel will pay a fair market price for the land that is being acquired. The company will not pay exorbitant prices mentioned by some people. The existing stretches of land in the villages of Arasur-I, Arasur-II, Naduvakurichi, Sasthavinalur, Pudukulam, Tachamoli and Kulesekarapatnam in Tuticorin district are barren yielding absolutely no value for its owners. What is of value is under the soil and needs to be taken out, processed and value addition done and only a corporate like Tata Steel can set up an industrial plant to mine the sand, separate the minerals, upgrade ilmenite and produce Titanium Dioxide Pigment. To accomplish this, a total of 9829 acres of land is required, which is owned by 7500 landowners. Tata Steel, in consultation with the government and the people of those villages, will pay a price that is reasonable to all concerned and that would make the project economically viable. About Rs. 50 crore has been earmarked for land acquisition from the total investment of Rs. 2500 core.

While Tata Steel is not averse to acquiring land directly from the landowners, ownership problems made it impossible for the company to acquire land directly. Moreover, since a project of this nature requires a vast expanse of land, the company sought the intervention of the government to acquire the required land for them. Only Tata Steel can execute a project of this size while simultaneously ensuring improved quality of life for the communities who would be impacted by the project.