Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu will release a postage stamp to mark 100 years of the steel city when he attends a function hosted by Tata Steel here on Monday.

East Singhbhum district administration sources said Naidu after landing at Sonari airport around 10am on Monday will be leaving straight to the Centre For Excellence in Northern Town and take a look at the Tata Steel archives containing books, reports, letters, images and other historical documents related to Tata Steel and the city. The Vice President will also plant a sapling at the centre.

Accompanied by Tata Steel CEO and managing director T.V. Narendran, Naidu will visit the Tata Steel galleries before heading for the XLRI auditorium inside the B school’s campus to attend the main function.

“The Vice President will release a commemorative stamp to mark 100 years of the city,” said Gudiya Kumari, senior post master, Bistupur General Post Office. “The stamp has been designed in consultation with the postal department and will be priced at Rs 5. It will be available at the philately unit of the Bistupur post office from the afternoon of February 17 (Monday).”

East Singhbhum deputy commissioner (DC) Ravi Shankar Shukla said the Vice President will also release a coffee table book on Jamshedpur.

“We have conducted recce of the entire route between Sonari airport to the venues which would be visited by the Vice President. For security reasons, the Jubilee Park would be closed for the public on February 17,” the DC added.

Sources in Tata Steel’s corporate communication department revealed that the function at the XLRI auditorium would last for nearly an hour.

“After that, the Vice President would take part in worship at the Andhra Bhakta Shree Rama Mandiram along Bistupur Main Road which also completed 100 years (established in 1919). He would be felicitated by the temple committee with a silk kanduva and also plant a sapling,” said a Tata Steel official.

The Vice President, after having lunch at the Director’s Bungalow in Northern Town, will leave the city around 3pm.

Jamshedpur completed 100 years on January 2, 2019. Once known as Sakchi, a village in the princely state of Mayurbhanj, it was renamed Jamshedpur by then governor general and viceroy of India, Lord Chelmsford, on January 2, 1919 in honour of the founder of the Tata Group, J.N. Tata.