Tata Steel employees remember Ratan Tata as visionary, guardian

FILE PHOTO: Ratan Tata, Chairman of the Tata Group, gestures during the annual general meeting of Tata Steel Ltd., in Mumbai, India August 13, 2010. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui/File Photo
| Photo Credit: DANISH SIDDIQUI

The demise of industrialist Ratan Tata has shattered the people of Jamshedpur, named after Tata Group’s founding father Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata.

Ratan Tata (1937-2024): In-depth coverage

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has declared a day of mourning on Thursday as a mark of respect to the departed soul.

Jamshedpur, popularly known as ‘Tatanagar’, located deep in India’s tribal heartland in Jharkhand, developed due to the visions of Mr. Tata who took Jamshedpur not only out of India but placed it on the global map.

For the people of Jamshedpur, Tata does not mean a company but it has given them identity. The employees in the Tata company remembered him with profound grief.

A resident of Jamshedpur, Ram Mohan Singh, who retired in September after working in Tata Steel for 42 years, closely remembered Mr. Tata who first visited Jamshedpur in 1963 to look into how Tata Steel works.

‘Death a big setback’

“Every year he used to visit Jamshedpur on March 3 to mark the birth anniversary of J.N Tata. Whenever a new plant was being set up he used to visit Jamshedpur. He was not only the guardian of the company but also the guardian for the employees,” Mr. Singh, who retired from Learning and Development, told The Hindu over phone. He said the death of the visionary was a big setback for the Tata group and in near future nobody could take his place.

Mr. Singh pointed out that during the COVID pandemic, the top management was mulling to cut down employees but somehow Mr. Tata came to know of it and issued the order that there would not be any retrenchment and he would continue to pay them, terming it Tata culture.

Mr. Tata, who became the chairman of Tata Steel in 1993, visited the city regularly. His last visit was in March 2021 to attend the 182nd Founder’s Day celebrations.

Another resident of Jamshedpur and employee of the company in Automation Department, Santosh Prasad Jaiswal, working in the company for the past 34 years, said he had got the opportunity to meet him thrice. First in 1999 at Singapore’s Changi airport while going to Japan for the company’s work and twice in 2000 and 2003 in Jamshedpur.

“The first meeting was incidental; however, the second one was more planned where I was among the five persons who gave a presentation during his visit for the inauguration of the cold rolling mill project. In that function, he was not scheduled to speak, however he became so emotional that he requested the then MD of Tata Steel J. J. Irani to speak for a few minutes. Tata company had no experience of cold rolling, and the top management was doubtful of its success. In the speech, he said that “I have read the eyes of the people and going back with the assurance that this project will succeed,” Mr. Jaiswal said.

He said, “In March, 2003, there were some features added in that project and he [Mr. Tata] wanted to see the operation of the machine. I still remember his famous quote which is very meaningful. He said “I never believe in making the right decision, I take decisions and make all efforts to make it right.”

It is Tata Steel that developed the country’s first industrial city at Jamshedpur, which was a part of undivided Bihar. When Mr. Tata took over the company, the production of steel was 2 MT and now it has reached to 12 MT.

Another employee Bamdeo Mishra said, “His name is Ratan but we all call him ratn [gemstone]. It is really sad that during the Durga Puja time we have to go through this emotional phase.”

Families watching the Puja Pandal in Jamshedpur returned home halfway after listening to the sad demise and many puja pandal organisers playing the songs stopped the music.

Jamshedpur Utility Services Company Limited (JUSCO) Shramik Union President Raghunath Pandey demanded Bharat Ratna for Mr. Tata, saying he had made huge contribution in building the nation and generating employment.