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Captain
S. T. Rao
Captain S. T.
Rao is a Tata Relief Committee (TRC) veteran. Efficient
and insightful, the indefatigable Capt Rao has been
an invaluable resource since the days when TRC conducted
relief work during the Gujarat earthquake. Following
the tsunami disaster, the chairman of the steering committee,
Mumbai, deputed him to assist TRC Chennai in the relief
and rehabilitation work being planned in the tsunami-hit
districts of Tamil Nadu.
Over the last few months, Capt
Rao and his team, comprising S. Jayaraman of Tata Steel,
Anitha Deshmukh of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and S.
Ilangovan of Tata Motors, have been in touch with the
district collector and non-governmental organisations
(NGOs) to work out the mode of relief activities to
be taken up.
Capt Rao has also been the camp
manager at Cuddalore. Now based at Nagapattinam, he
has been instrumental in establishing a rapport with
the administration and in earning the confidence of
the affected community. The latter is an achievement,
considering that the community speaks no language but
Tamil, not Capt Rao's mother tongue.
Earlier, at Nagapattinam, the
government had issued an order saying that no one should
distribute materials in person. NGOs had to hand over
the material to the government, who would distribute
it. Thanks to the intervention of Capt Rao and Mr Ilangovan,
the collector granted TRC permission to distribute relief
material.
TRC and Capt Rao complement each
other. Both do not shirk away from the site of a disaster.
It is perhaps in recognition of this fact that Capt
Rao was invited to be part of TRC Chennai's efforts.
He repays the compliment through these words about the
Group: "The Tata Group is the only corporate house
that is still working in the region."
K. Gowrishankar and Abdullah
When it came to procuring the 22 materials that would
eventually feature in the family kit that TRC distributed
to the victims of the tsunami-affected, K. Gowrishankar,
materials manager, Taj Coromandel, and Abdullah, purchase
manager, Taj Connemara, ran their own race against time.
With just 48 hours in which to
identify the products and make sure that they were available
in the required quantities, the two knew what they were
up against. The difficulty was heightened by the fact
that Chennai was teeming with NGOs who were looking
for the same things. In the circumstances, it was difficult
to identify the right products and the right source,
but the duo managed, thanks "partly to our experience
with the vendors, but more to the reputation of the
Tata Group," says Mr Gowrishankar.
The successful handling of one
logistical nightmare caused Mr Gowrishankar to be entrusted
with another. J. Ganesh, honorary joint secretary, TRC,
asked him to use his negotiation techniques to source
boats and nets. This was out of Mr Gowrishankar's regular
line of work, but the spadework done by Captain Rao
eased the strain and enabled him to secure the boats
and nets.
The sourcing of engines to be
fitted on the boats presented another challenge, as
did the procurement of building materials for the houses
to be built by TRC. Says Mr Gowrishankar: "The
Tata name gave me confidence to negotiate the rates.
As an individual I would not have been able to do this,
but because of the background of the Tata Group and
TRC, vendors wanted to contribute to the cause by giving
quality material at economic rates."
The others
There have been other volunteers, like S. Prabhu Raj
of VSNL and Geetha Sriram of Tata Infotech, who have
worked overtime to help in the distribution of relief
material. The latter, the only woman among the volunteers,
insisted on going to work at the camp.
It was a task beset with
difficulties, but as Mr Ilangovan says, "I felt
a great degree of personal satisfaction. I also understood
the scale of the Tata Group. Our company identities
melted away and we began thinking of ourselves as part
of one entity, the Group." A. S. A. Sayeed from
Voltas thinks likewise. "I met people from various
Tata companies," he says. "It gave me a feeling
of family; I realised how much we can achieve if people
from different backgrounds, different synergies and
core competencies get together."
Uploaded in
April 27, 2005
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