With acres after acres of land being ravaged by cyclone ‘Aila’ on May 25, more than 4.2 million people living in 54 villages in the Sundarban region of West Bengal have been rendered homeless and bereft of the bare necessities of life.

As on previous occasions, Tata Steel in association with Tata Relief Committee, assisted proactively in reaching out aid to the unfortunate victims. As a pre-cursor, a survey of the devastated areas of Sonagaon, Mathurakhand, Dulki, Amlamethi, and Tridibnagar, in close proximity to the coast, was carried out. Accordingly, relief materials to the tune of 1,000 tarpaulin sheets, medicines worth Rs 80,000 and 3,000 packets of consumables and other essentials were distributed. Each of these packets contained 3.5 kg of rice, 1 kg pulses, 2 kg chira, salt, candles and match boxes. It allowed easy distribution and reduced wastage. Medical aid, however, has been reached out to villages other than these five, where it was deemed necessary. Bottled water was also given to the villagers. In addition, bleaching powder and other necessary items were also supplied.

As an immediate step towards revival of settlement in this area, Tata Relief Committee will take up disaster mitigation initiatives, involving people in select villages in the Sundarbans. A pilot project involving the building of cyclone shelters will be taken up in one of these villages. The idea is to replicate the initiative in select vulnerable villages at a later date. Tata Steel has been steadfast in its approach to assuage the grief of the distressed for more than three decades now. In this vein, it has often teamed up with the Tata Relief Committee on several occasions to aid and assist those who have been affected by natural calamities. This is the first time that it has provided this kind of support to the people in West Bengal. A few days back, the Company in association with the Committee, had aided about 1000 villagers in Ranchi, whose houses had been destroyed by hailstorms.

The Tata Relief Committee (West), a special agency, was constituted in 1967 in Mumbai. It was a result of the initiative undertaken by the House of Tata to combat the aftermath of all such unavoidable mishaps, has instituted. A few years later, in November 1974, the Jamshedpur based Tata Relief Committee (East) was incorporated. Spearheaded by Tata Steel, the Tata Relief Committee (East) also includes Tata Steel's sister concerns, associate companies and Jamshedpur industries. It has steadfastly brought "sunshine" to the lives of the distressed in eastern India (especially Orissa) by mobilising resources for their service. The object of TRC is to render help to those affected by flood, drought and other natural calamities by offering them food, medical aid, rehabilitation etc.