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A school in tsunami-devasted Tamilnadu
in India has been rebuilt with funding from Rolls-Royce
and its employees following a 2005 commitment to the
district authorities and villagers of Nagapattinam.
The new Pallayar Government Middle School
was opened officially on 21 August by Thangam Thennarasu
- Minister for School Education, Government of Tamilnadu,
who thanked Rolls-Royce and the Confederation of Indian
Industry for their efforts in restoring the school and
the village.
The school reopening, which was shared
with more than 300 children from the school and neighbouring
villages, teachers, Confederation of Indian Industry
and district officials, marks the real revival of the
Pallayar village.
Nearly 1,500 families are now moving into
new homes built by the school and a new health centre
is also being built. The school and the new homes have
been built inland from the original village, and at
least three feet higher to prevent any damage in case
of further flooding.
The Nagapattinam district was the worst-affected
area during the tsunami in 2004. Agriculture and horticulture
crops, fishing craft and fishing nets were completely
destroyed. Houses, high schools and elementary school
buildings were damaged beyond repair and hectares of
paddy fields were blackened and ruined by sea water.
Rolls-Royce and its employees in India
and around the world were deeply disturbed by the devastation
in this region. Because Pallayar is located close to
Rolls-Royce power installations of Saheli, Vaigai, Kaveri
and M M Steel, it was decided to contribute to restoring
some of the lost infrastructure by supporting the Pallayar
School project in partnership with CII. Since then Rolls-Royce
managers took a keen interest in monitoring the progress
of construction work.
Premangshu Sanyal, Director of Rolls-Royce
Energy Systems India pvt Ltd, said: "We were deeply
disturbed by the tsunami devastation in a region where
we operate and have power plant installations. The company
and its employees wanted to contribute to restoring
some of the lost infrastructure by supporting the Pallayar
School project.
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