Govt invests R80 cr to upgrade FTII

Pune, June 17: Even as students continued their strike against the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as chairman of the Film and Telivision Institute of India (FTII) governing council, its director, D J Narain, was hopeful of finding a solution and restoring normalcy in the campus. The FTII is in the midst of upgrading infrastructure, equipment and syllabus and the government is investing R80 crore in upgrading the institute, Narain said.

Narain refused to comment on the appointment of Chauhan or his credentials. The government has written a letter to them and said that it’s the prerogative of the gover nment to appoint the chairman and it’s important that the academic activities resume at FTII, he said.

“The government had appointed the chairman and constituted the society. Unfortunately, students have protested against it. I am trying to resolve it as quickly as possible so that we come back to the normal state of functioning and FTII resumes its activities,” Narain said.

The government is investing R80 crore in upgrading infrastructure and equipment at the FTII. Around R 30 crore has been spent on purchasing new equipment. While film institutions across the world are grappling with problems and fast-paced changes in the digital world, FTII has been able to deal with them, he said. “It was a challenge to make the best use of the budget sanctioned by the gover nment and for the first time, we formed the technical advisory council, who recommend all the required technical equipment purchases. Massive cost efficiency was introduced,” he said.

Narain said the government would be ready to discuss all the issues with the students of the premier film institute.