History

In 1997, the ASHRAE Western India Chapter saw a considerable increase in its membership number after the success of its first major event, a One Day Seminar on Air-Conditioning for Health Care Facilities. Considering the vast geographical spread of the Chapter, and, the fact that Membership was equally divided between the three major Cities, the BOG used to meet at the three Cities, by rotation, every month. Conducting programs at the three locations on a regular basis was also proving to be a challenge. By around 2004, the Membership Growth had begun to plateau. Chapter Operations were also proving to be difficult due to the logistics of having the BOG members spread over three different locations.

In 2007, when Lebanon, which was to host the CRC had to pull out due to the unfortunate break-out of war, Mr Samir Traboulsi, the then DRC of RAL, requested ASHRAE Western India Chapter to host the CRC. The CRC was a resounding success, considering the fact there was just six months’ time in which all preparations had to be done, starting from scratch. It was during this CRC, that Sudhir Sinha was appointed as SRC for our Region. Under his Leadership, the Chapter took a long hard look at the way it was conducting its operations. After a series of meetings, it was decided that the way forward would be to re-organize the Western India Chapter into more manageable entities, so that the local membership at each of the major Cities could be better served. By Society Year 2008-2009, the efforts of the Leadership had borne fruit, and, membership at each of the major Cities (Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Pune) had grown well beyond the corum required to form a Chapter.