No citizens in Kasaragod  have met Ratan Tata, India’s leading industrialist. But that did not prevent them from organizing a memorial meeting on Friday in honor of Ratan Tata who breathed his last late Wednesday night.

“It is because of the philanthropy of Tata that we are all alive today. When Covid-19 struck Kasaragod in a major way in 2019, the district was declared a no go area and all boundaries with Karnataka and other districts in the State were shut down. This made Kasaragod a ghost district as hundreds died without getting medical care,” said Sukumaran Periyachoor, patron of Saparya, a socio-cultural platform which organized the meeting.

The district was short of hospitals and residents had to depend on hospitals in Karnataka’s Mangalore for medical aid. Since the borders of the district were shut off, there was no means for the locals to commute to Karnataka for treatment. “It was at this juncture Ratan Tata came across our plight and he ordered the immediate setting up of a specialty hospital to treat Covid-19 patients. A full-fledged hospital was set up in record time of three months at Chattanchal. It was a 600-bed hospital and treated more than 6000 Covid-19 patients. The hospital cost the Tata Trusts more than Rs 60 crore,” said Sukumaran who expressed his gratitude to The Pioneer, the only newspaper that highlighted the concern of the people in the delay associated with the opening of the hospital.

“While the media in Kerala ignored the sufferings of the Kasaragod people, The Pioneer was the only newspaper which highlighted the delay in commissioning the hospital because of the lethargy and indecisiveness of the Government,” said Sreedevi Ambalapuram, who paid glowing tributes to Rata Tata in the meeting.

The resolution adopted in the meeting described the philanthropy works carried out by the Tata Trusts as proof of value based economy. “Though none of us has seen Rata Tata in person, we were all praying for his recovery and longevity so that more and more people could get the benefits showered by Tata Trusts, of which he was the soul and energy,” said Premachandran Chombala.