Foundation stone of FDDI laid at Fursatganj, Rae Bareli

The Hon’ble Member of Parliament Shri Rahul Gandhi alongwith the Member of Parliament & Chairperson of UPA Smt. Sonia Gandhi laid the foundation stone of the ‘Footwear Design & Development Institute’ at Fursatganj, Rae Bareli District on 13th February 2007.

On this occasion Mr. Rajeev Lakhara, IRS, Managing Director, FDDI, Mr. Shashi Bhushan Shukla, IRS, Secretary, FDDI were also present. The ceremony was inaugurated by invocation with Saraswati Vandana by the students of FDDI.

In his inaugural speech the Hon’ble Member of Parliament Shri Rahul Gandhi said, “The establishment of FDDI at Fursatganj is not the establishment of merely an institute, in fact it is a commitment to the region for opening the window of development.”

In her inaugural speech the Member of Parliament & Chairperson of UPA, Smt. Sonia Gandhi said, “The human resource is a critical resource and the growth of civilization is also a witness to this truth. The stronger the developed human resource, more the society gets benefit. The Government under 11th five-year plan understands the commitment of developing the human resource to solve the problem of development. The Government is committed to focus in creating jobs having implication of long term requirement rather short term. Establishment of FDDI at Fursatganj is outcome of such objective.”

The Managing Director of FDDI, Mr. Rajeev Lakhara, IRS, in his Welcome speech said, “There is huge shortage in the regular supply of trained man power to the footwear industry at all levels. Though there is a need for creation of training and technical facilities in all regional centers, the requirement in UP is more critical. There is no specialized institute for footwear training in the eastern UP which is having the major clusters of Kanpur and Unnao. Industrialists of U.P. approached several times and also given representations to meet the requirements of professionals and also the training of their employees.”

Shri. Rajeev Lakhara, MD, FDDI delivering the inaugural speech.
At the dais (L to R seated) Shri. Shashi Bhushan Shukla, Secretary, FDDI, Smt. Sonia Gandhi, Chairperson, UPA, Shri. Rahul Gandhi, Hon'ble Member of Parliament

He further said, “Initially, the training center will be fully equipped to train 500 students to create professional designers and technologists every year and in due course of time it will be upgraded to additional capacity with more number of courses leading to undergraduate and post graduate programmes.” Replying on the query raised by the mediapersons Mr. Lakhara, said, “This institute will have latest machinery, electronic and CAD CAM based design support. The institute will also assist those who want to set up their own industry and will help the organization to grow the business.”

The Secretary of FDDI, Mr. Shashi Bhushan Shukla, IRS, extended the Vote of Thanks & also said that; “With the opening of this institute the industries at Kanpur and Unnao will be benefited by closer proximity of resources, a world class training center and expert for helping them to adopt changes as per market requirement.”

Amidst adverse climatic condition, around 9 - 10 thousand people from the adjoining towns & villages were present on this occasion besides some prominent footwear manufacturer as well as some components manufacturer.