Gatta is only one of the many nondescript hamlets that have flourished because of their proximity to manufacturing units of the Thapar group. Their units in Shree Gopal, Haryana; Warangal, Andhra Pradesh, and Karwar in Karnataka (besides the flagship unit in Ballarpur) have extended health care, irrigation, sports andcultural resources not only to Ballarpur employees, but to inhabitants of villages in and around the units.

Without the goodwill of the local community and opinion leaders, no business can prosper in rural India, feels BILT managing director Gautam Thapar. ``In their own ways, all our units are trying to do their bit to reach out and fulfill the health care, social and educational needs of the local community,'' he says. ``Whenever possible, our senior managers take time out and preside over cultural and sports events organised in the community and mingle with the local work-force,'' he adds.

BILT, which has been in troubled waters for some years now owing to financial mismanagement, is emerging out of the shadows of uncertainty. But the company has not let any of it reflect upon its human face which took shape under patriarch Lalit Mohan.

In the past three years, the company underwent a surgery of sorts to acquire a new, confident face. ``It is a matter of great satisfaction that Ballarpur Industries,the flagship of the Thapar group, has successfully completed the restructuring in record time. It took us just three years to put our focus back to paper, our core competency,'' says Lalit Mohan. The restructuring led to the hiving off of some businesses not related to paper like glass, leather, edible oils and The Pioneer newspaper. Other companies like the Global Green and BILT Chemicals were also carved out from non-paper interests. The Thapar Vidya Vihar at Kamalapuram in Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh is a school where a majority of the 1,220 students represent poorer sections of the society. The unit has also helped the Warangal Zila Parishad create infrastructural facilities like roads near the school with an initial grant of Rs 1.5 lakh and subsequent annual grants of around Rs 50,000.

Similarly, BILT's paper unit helps run the Thapar High School at Shri Gopal Haryana. ``Education is the first step toward creating a class-less society. The empowerment that comes from educating their children isa small step we can take to help our employees. Hence, it's the focus area for us,'' says Thapar.

One of the major focus areas of the Thapars' community welfare efforts is health care. ``We have provided an overhead tank to store drinking water worth Rs 5 lakh in Binaga village near our Karwar plant. About 800 cubic metres of potable water is supplied every day from the Kamalapuram overhead tank, too. Similarly, our unit at Kamalapuram extends free medical consultancy to residents of 16 villages in the neighbourhoood through our company hospital and a rural health centre. Qualified doctors and paramedics visit these villages thrice a week. Plus, they extend ambulance services in times of emergency,'' says D S Mehta, a spokesman for the group.

The company also helps the health departments of the states in which it operates to organise family planning camps, eye camps, immunisation efforts like Pulse Polio and distribution of vaccines to eradicate brain fever, cholera and other viral ailments.

With therestructuring of the group, a lot of decentralisation has taken place. This has meant greater freedom for individual units even in charity budgets. ``They have the freedom to take up charitable causes at the local level,''

says Lalit Mohan. For instance, the company's unit in Shree Gopal has launched an incentive scheme for those employees who donate blood. ``Employees donate blood on the basis of requirements in the local community. Every blood donor is given a cash reward of Rs 200 and one day's leave. In a month, between 25 to 30 employees are awarded on an average,'' claims Mehta.

Most BILT units have also been engaged in environmental preservation. Their Karwar unit has donated a garbage pick up rickshaw to the local Rotary Club to help them clean up the township. The unit at Kamalapuram recycles the water from its effluent treatment plant for cultivation.

``We have been promoting plantation and development of social forestry for many years now. Seeds are supplied free of cost to villagers as anincentive to raise plantations. Besides, a rupee per plant is given to farmers who raise plantations. We maintain the gardens of two schools at Chandrapur near Ballarpur and organise avenue plantations on the Chandrapur-Nagpur road,'' explains Gautam.

But the final word on the social efforts comes from his uncle, ``We are on the revival path and we want to take the community with us,'' he says.