Jamshedpur on Monday paid tributes to Sir Dorabji Tata on his 153rd birth anniversary.

Senior Tata Steel officials, including managing director H.M. Nerurkar and president of Tata Workers’ Union (TWU) P.N. Singh offered floral tributes to the visionary and the longest serving chairman of the steel behemoth at a function at Sir Dorabji Tata Park. Also present were officials of other Tata group companies and prominent citizens.

Speaking on the occasion, Nerurkar said: “Sir Dorabji’s visionary approach and far-sightedness made it possible for him to materialise every dream that his father J.N. Tata had seen. He displayed concern about developing India as a sporting nation and had taken pragmatic steps to fructify this by sponsoring sportsmen to 1924 Olympic games.”

Singh said it was Dorabji Tata, more than anyone else, who realised the majestic objectives of his father.

“Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, the largest philanthropic entity in India, has been redefining itself and its funding philosophy. It was Dorabji Tata who gave shape and substance to the entrepreneurial projects that Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata had once seeded,” said Singh.

He went on to say that besides shaping the future of the Tata empire, Dorabji Tata also played a remarkable role in promoting sports and education in India.

A thematic exhibition on the life of Sir Dorabji Tata, his role as Tata Steel’s first chairman and as the master planner of the steel city was also organised at the venue.

The exhibition showcases Sir Dorabji as an administrator and facilitator of the many projects envisaged by J.N. Tata and also as sportsperson, patron, and supporter of the Olympic movement in India. As a part of the celebrations, the picturesque Dorabji Park will remain illumined till August 28.

Dorabji, the elder son of JN Tata, was a philanthropist. When steel prices stumbled after World War I and Tata Steel was not in a position to pay its workers, Sir Dorab pledged his assets and his wife’s jewellery to obtain a loan to disburse salaries.