Tata Steel to play active role with government to take Jharkhand forward: MD

Jamshedpur, Jan 27: India as a country has achieved a lot in last 65 years and as we celebrate the 66th Republic Day the main challenges that lie ahead include poverty and illiteracy, said Tata Steel MD (India and South East Asia), T. V Narendran after hoisting the tricolor at Tata Steel works on Monday.

Talking to the mediapersons, Narendran said that Jamshedpur as a city has progressed but there is lot to be achieved and we should aspire for more.

�After 30 years we have a majority government in the country and also have a PM who in focused on investment and technology to grow paving way for more jobs. In Jharkhand also the newly formed government which we hope runs for a minimum of 5 years has given signs of development and we are also willing to work with the government in different field to take Jharkhand and Jamshedpur to new level of development.

We are ready to play an active role with the union and state government to take the country and the mineral-rich state (Jharkhand) forward�, MD said. Tata Steel has invested a lot in the last 5-6 years and now our focus is maximum production, Naredran said adding that government has also asked for our suggestions in health, education and skill development and we are ready to provide the best facilities we have and referring to the MGM hospital facelift, Narendran said that if MGM Hospital is improved then TMH will be burden free.

The last one year has been full of challenges but the Tata Union and workers worked together and we came out of the period with more strength, he said.

Corporate honcho further informed that every month 1 million people join the workforce that make 12 million in a year out of which only half a million are skilled. Tata Steel also focuses on skill enhancement and underlined company�s and Tata Group commitment towards helping the government in this sphere. Tata Group is working with CII to help tribals in ITI.

Sounding confident about the Airport project, MD said that we are waiting for the forest department clearance on the land at Gamharia and the project will take time which will not only be for the company but for the people of Jamshedpur.

Narendra reiterated that production at its Kalinganagar plant will begin from March this year as they will be getting the �Consent of Operation� from the Odisha government in a couple of days and the company�s Jamshedpur plant annual production will be increased from 10 MT to 11 MT.