Tata Group Establishes ₹500 Cr Air India Crash Trust

• Tata Group established The AI-171 Memorial and Welfare Trust with ₹500 crore.
• The trust aims to support victims and first responders of the Air India plane crash.
• Tata Sons and Tata Trusts each contributed ₹250 crore.

GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 19th July: The Tata Group announced today the establishment of a ₹500-crore trust, named The AI-171 Memorial and Welfare Trust, dedicated to supporting the victims of the Air India plane crash that tragically killed 260 people in Ahmedabad last month.

Tata Sons and Tata Trusts have each committed ₹250 crore to the Trust, which has been officially registered as a public charitable trust in Mumbai. In a statement released today, Tata Sons confirmed that “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.”

Beyond direct victims, the Trust will also extend aid and assistance to alleviate trauma and distress suffered by first responders, medical and disaster relief professionals, social workers, and governmental staff who provided invaluable institutional support in the aftermath of the accident.

Trust Leadership and Objectives

A five-member board of trustees will be responsible for managing and administering the Trust. S Padmanabhan, a former Tata veteran, and Sidharth Sharma, Tata Sons’ General Counsel, have been appointed as trustees, with the remaining three members to be named shortly.

The philanthropic objectives of the Trust include:

• An ex-gratia payment of ₹1 crore for each deceased individual.
• Medical treatment for those who sustained serious injuries.
• Support for rebuilding the damaged infrastructure of the B J Medical College Hostel in Ahmedabad, which was affected by the accident.

The statement clarified that the Trust will commence its work in earnest once necessary registrations with tax authorities and other ongoing operational formalities are completed.

The tragic incident occurred on June 12, when an Air India plane, en route from Ahmedabad to London, crashed into a building shortly after takeoff. The crash claimed the lives of 260 people, including 19 individuals on the ground. Out of the 242 people aboard the ill-fated Boeing 787-8 aircraft, only one passenger survived.