Air India crash aid: Tata Group launches Rs 500 crore trust for victims’ families and responders, to offer long-term support and Rs 1 crore ex gratia for every life lost

Tata Sons and Tata Trusts on Friday introduced the formation of a devoted Rs 500 crore welfare trust to support victims of the Air India Flight AI-171 crash in Ahmedabad that claimed 260 lives, together with 19 on the bottom.In an official assertion, Tata Sons and Tata Trusts mentioned “The Trust will provide both immediate and continuing support to the dependents/next-of-kin of the deceased, to those who were injured, and to all others who are directly or collaterally affected by the accident.”The trust, named ‘The AI-171 Memorial and Welfare Trust’, has been registered in Mumbai and shall be managed and administered by a five-member Board of Trustees. The preliminary two trustees appointed are S. Padmanabhan, a former Tata veteran, and Sidharth Sharma, General Counsel at Tata Sons. Additional trustees shall be appointed in the end.The group has pledged Rs 500 crore — Rs 250 crore every from Tata Sons and Tata Trusts — towards the trust’s philanthropic targets. These embrace an ex gratia fee of Rs 1 crore to the families of every of the deceased, full medical therapy for these with severe accidents, and help for the rebuilding of the B J Medical College Hostel infrastructure, which was broken within the crash.The assertion additionally famous that the Trust would prolong help “for alleviation of any trauma or distress suffered by the first responders, medical and disaster relief professionals, social workers and governmental staff who provided invaluable institutional support and service in the aftermath of the accident.”The trust will start operations after the completion of required registration and tax formalities, that are presently underway, the assertion mentioned.The Air India plane, flying from Ahmedabad to London, crashed shortly after takeoff on June 12, leading to one of many nation’s worst aviation tragedies in recent times.