Udhyog '04 to kick off on January 8

The first "Udhyog" fair was launched in 1998 by the then SGCCI president Prem Kumar Sharda who is now the vice-chancellor of the South Gujarat University.

The Udhyog 2004 would have eleven domes and 48 air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned pavilions covering almost all the major sectors.

"Udhyog has been attracting a lot of participants from across the country and has also evoked a lot of response from buyers and people at large," SGCCI president Ashok Shah said.

He said world over the importance of such exhibitions and fairs was being understood in the right perspective. "The trade and industry at large will have to adopt a modern and pro-customer attitude," Shah said.

Shah also reiterated the long-standing demand of setting up a permanent trade centre in Surat for which the SGCCI has also asked for allotment of land from the Gujarat government.

The preparations for Udhyog were formally launched by Gujarat chief secretary P K Laheri. He also released a special information booklet on the trade fair and also launched the website www.udhog2004.com.

He also felicitated participants who had taken part in the earlier such fairs.

Laheri said that he had visited all the three earlier Udhyog fairs and was impressed by the arrangements. "It is indeed a matter of pride for all us that we have reached international levels in organising such fairs," he said.

Highlighting the importance of such fairs, Laheri said there were many cities in Europe, which existed on such trade and fairs only.

SGCCI exhibition committee chairman Mahendra Kajiwala said the ever-growing list of participants and visitors was indicative of the fact that participation in such fairs was mutually beneficial.

Surat North MLA Dhirubhai Gajera presented a list of infrastructural bottlenecks being experienced by Surat and south Gujarat region and called upon Laheri to use his good offices in bringing about an early solution to the problems.