Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata calls for crisis infrastructure

The afternoon after the attacks on the Taj and Oberoi hotels in the tony south Mumbai business district, on two hospitals and several other locations in the city, Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata made some statements that the government needs to act upon.

At a press conference at Bombay House on 27 November 2008, Tata said, "I just want to say that this is a very, very unfortunate situation which none of us are going to forget. My message really is that the government and state authorities should also not forget."

Referring to the bomb blasts in the city some years ago, Tata said, "We should have learnt to get a crisis infrastructure in place that could snap to attention as soon as something happens. We still don't have that in place. My message is that if we are living in this kind of environment, we need an infrastructure that will cope with this." Without such an infrastructure, he said, citizens would remain unprotected.

He added that had there been an effective crisis response mechanism in place, the deaths and destruction could have been minimised. "Everyone is doing their best but it's not coming together fast enough," he lamented.

While condoling with those who have lost their loved ones, Tata said, "We cannot replace the lives that have been lost and we will never forget the terrifying events of last night, but we must stand together, shoulder to shoulder as citizens of India, and rebuild what has been destroyed. We must show that we cannot be disabled or destroyed, but that such heinous acts will only make us stronger. It is important that we do not allow divisive forces to weaken us. We need to overcome these forces as one strong unified nation."