Doha charity to help set up training centre in India

Saeed al-Hajri and Hassan Chougule (second  left) exchanging documents at the announcement of the charity’s plan to aid the establishment of an industrial training centre in the Indian state of Maharashtra. PICTURE: Shaji KayamkulamBy Ramesh Mathew/Staff ReporterDoha-based Jassim & Hamed bin Jassim Charitable Foundation will aid the establishment of an industrial training centre in Ratnagiri district of India’s western state of Maharashtra.The proposed centre, to come up at Dabhol, one of the fastest developing towns of Maharashtra’s Konkan region will be ready for opening in the middle of 2015, said senior member of Qatar’s Indian community Hassan Chougule at the headquarters of the foundation in Doha yesterday.CEO of Jassim & Hamed bin Jassim Charitable Foundation Saeed al-Hajri said the charity would contribute $500,000 for developing the industrial training centre in Dabhol, which he said would be established by the Konkan Sarvangin Utkarsh Mandal, of which Chougule is the chairman.The CEO hoped the centre would cater to the growing requirements of the children of the area and it would go a long way in materialising one of the long-awaited dreams of the region’s residents.Al-Hajri said it is the first educational venture of its kind to be undertaken by the  charity anywhere in India even though it has aided the construction of similar projects in some other countries. Classes are expected to begin in September 2015 at the multi-level industrial training centre.Dabhol houses offices of a number of major shipping companies and many industries are coming up in the area these days. “However, the dropout rate among the local schoolchildren is too high and that’s one of the reasons why we decided to build an industrial training centre in the area,” said Chougule. He said its establishment would help children from the area find jobs.The facility which would be named Jassim & Hamed Bin Jassim Industrial Training Centre, will be upgraded as a polytechnic in the second phase, as per the current plans. “The promoters also plan to develop the centre as an engineering college in future,” said Chougule.As per the MoU signed between the local charity and Konkan Sarvangin Utkarsh Mandal, the land where the centre is to be built would soon be transferred to the  Mandal’s name.As stipulated by the Reserve Bank of India’s Foreign Exchange Regulation Guidelines (FERA), the local charity would transfer the funds for the proposed project through proper channels. “This is being done to ensure complete transparency in the entire mission,” said Chougule.Jassim & Hamed bin Jassim Charitable Foundation manager Mohamed al-Mansouri and Konkan Saryangin Utkarsh Mandal vice-chairman Fakir Ahmed also spoke.