These days, Prabha Shankar Joshi, 60, an Assistant Engineer at Tata Chemicals’ plant in Mithapur, Gujarat, is very emotional and hardly speaks with others. Joshi, whose family has had people working for Tata Chemicals for three generations, had to be coaxed into conversation.

The engineer says he is happy because ‘his company’, which was born in Mithapur, will celebrate 75 years on January 23.

Located at the extreme tip of the lower jaw of Gujarat, Mithapur, owned by Tata Chemicals, is part of the 5,398 acres of freehold land obtained in the 1930s from the government of the erstwhile princely state of Baroda. But Joshi is also sad, as he will retire at the end of January, after 42 years of service. He joined the company as a pump man, after passing the tenth standard. “Those days, as a pump man standing atop a tall tower, I used to communicate with my colleagues on the ground through long pipes. Today, things are different,” he says. He has decided not to leave Mithapur after retirement though his three sons are away — one is in the Railway police, another is an engineer and the third, a poojari.

Tata Chemicals will conduct a counselling session for Joshi to advise him on how to lead life after retirement and invest wisely.

Irresistible draw Tucked away from the hustle and bustle of city life, the growth opportunity and family-like living keeps people tied to Mithapur, says A. Sharad, who, as a child, had seen Darbari Seth, former Managing Director, have tea with employees at the nearby railway canteen.

Vivek Deo, Assistant General Manager, Solar Salt, also a third-generation Tata Chemicals employee, recalls how his father quit a well-paid Government job in Pune to set up the first power plant way back in 1958.

An engineer by qualification, Deo was poached from Larsen and Toubro by Manu Seth, former Managing Director.

“Seth knew that my father was employed at Mithapur. On a visit to L&T in Mumbai, he called me to join the Tatas and set up an L&T-like workshop in Mithapur,” he says. He still remembers how J.R.D. Tata arranged a charter plane to fly his entire family to Mumbai when his grandfather expired.

Jitesh Chauhan, a fourth-generation staffer employed as an Assistant Manager, is amazed by the simplicity of the Tatas.

In 2004, he recalls, a red-carpet welcome was laid for Ratan Tata.

Accessible bosses Finally, the people who came to welcome him walked on the red carpet while Tata chose to walk on the grass. “It is not for no reason he is named Ratan,” says Chauhan.

Rahul J. Buch, General Manager (safety, health and environment), feels the easy accessibility of top bosses is the highlight at Tata Chemicals.

He says Managing Director Ramakrishnan Mukundan takes special interest in Mithapur as he himself did a small stint in the plant.

“During one of his visits, he told us to grow Malara trees, developed by Tata Energy Research Institute, around the pond created to store the waste water from the plant. Today, despite the salinity, we have about 40-50 acres of green cover around the plant,” he said.

M. Ravindranath, Vice-President (Manufacturing), feels retaining talent is one of the biggest challenges the company faces.

“The Tata brand attracts lot of good talent in Mithapur, but retaining them is becoming a challenge.”

A slew of events has been organised to celebrate Tata Chemicals’ Diamond Jubilee in Mithapur on January 23. In Mumbai, Managing Director Mukundan will hit the gong at the Bombay Stock Exchange on the same day.

(The correspondent visited Mithapur on Tata Chemicals’ invitation)

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