Number of words: 345

Dorabji, in the meanwhile, was visiting the local district office to inform them that they were winding up their project, when he spotted a map of the Geological Survey of India pasted on a notice board. He saw the map marked with dark spots at certain places, indicating iron ore deposits. On closer inspection, Dorab was pleasantly surprised to find that the places marked were merely 140 miles from Nagpur and rushed to give Weld and Jamsetji the good news. The places shown on the map were in nearby Durg district.

Once there, walking uphill, they could feel their heels hitting iron-rich soil. Their initial inspection proved them right, the soil had over 60 per cent iron ore content. But there was no source of water nearby. Water was an important element among the requirements for setting up a steel plant. Their efforts, abandoned then, were not completely wasted. Nearly fifty years later, Durg would become famous for the Bhilai Steel Plant, a Government of India undertaking set up in 1955.

However, fortune favoured the persistent, and Jamsetji soon received a letter from geologist P.N. Bose, who had earlier worked in Durg and was now posted in the princely state of Mayurbhanj in Bengal province. Bose’s letter stated that not only did the state have rich iron ore reserves but that the Maharaja was willing to give favourable terms to anyone who would set up a plant.

Work began in right earnest. It was rough terrain, with wild elephants roaming without a care and jungles populated by Santhal tribes. Once digging began, they struck a solid piece of iron, just a few feet below the soil! The group was overjoyed. The soil had 60 per cent iron ore concentration, well over 3.5 crore tonnes of it! Their search for water, a crucial commodity, ended soon when they discovered two large rivers nearby. A railway station, Kalimati, was also close at hand. All the elements had come together.

Excerpted from Pg 21-22 of Tatas: How a family built a business and a nation by Girish Kuber