Pair of women's shoes auctioned off for Rs. 310,000

A pair of women's slippers had been sold for Rs.310,000 yesterday (23) at an auction conducted by the Senehasa Education Resources Research and Information Centre (ERRIC) run by the Ranaviru Seva Authority which comes under the State Defence Ministry.

Ashen Ishara Udayantha (18), a hearing impaired youth who was following a training course in manufacturing women's footwear which is a project undertaken by the Vocational Training Unit of the Authority, was credited with turning out the expensive pair of shoes that was auctioned off.

The Senehasa centre had been set up for children with disabilities of the tri-forces, Police and Civil Defense Members' families.

Senehasa Circle Head, Lieutenant Colonel Prasanna Hettiarachchi said the ERRIC Centre is being operated in collaboration of the Ranaviru Seva Authority under the the State Defense Ministry and at present there are 16 students with various physical difficulties undergoing vocational training there.

He said the expensive pair of shoes was manufactured using the expertise and equipment supplied to the centre by an institution called Darryl Shoes.

The pair was bought by the ERRIC itself with contributions received by the parents of the children of the centre and Rs.31,000 of the sale price would be given to the student who had manufactured it, while balance will be distributed equally among the other students and will be reinvested in the centre itself, Hettiarachchi said.