Guwahati

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday said that Ratan Tata gave the Northeast dignity through healthcare and ambition through industry.

On the industrialist's death anniversary, Sarma said when cancer was claiming thousands of lives in Assam every year, Ratan Tata helped map 17 hospitals across the state and took Assam Cancer Care Foundation from an "idea to a lifeline".

He also imposed the same trust by setting up the Tata Semiconductor Facility at Jagiroad, which will become operational by the end of this year, and the township around the area has been named as Ratan Tata Electronics City, Sarma said.

"Today, on the occasion of Ratan Tata's 'punyatithi', I remember not just an industrialist, but a friend who chose Assam as few outsiders ever have," he said in a social media post.

"I still recall his visits to our state -- warm, unhurried, always asking what more could be done for our people, not what more could be built for his company," he said.

When cancer was silently claiming thousands of lives every year, "he did not send a cheque and walk away; he sat with us, mapped 17 hospitals across the state, took Assam Cancer Care Foundation from an idea to a lifeline".

Sarma said that Ratan Tata once told him that his last years were to healthcare, and "Assam became the state where that promise lived".

"That same trust is why, when we spoke of Assam becoming a technology hub, he did not doubt it for a moment," he said.

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Sarma said that by the end of this year, when the Tata semiconductor facility at Jagiroad becomes operational, the first-of-its-kind in India, it will be a realisation of his dreams for Assam and fittingly, the township around it carries his name, Ratan Tata Electronics City.

"He gave the Northeast dignity in healthcare and ambition in industry. On this day, Assam does not just mourn a great Indian; we honour a man who believed in us," Sarma added.