13-day Toshali Crafts Mela from Dec 15
OST Business Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Nov 28:
The state government is leaving no stone unturned to make the 8th edition of Toshali National Crafts Mela, beginning at the Janata Maidan here from December 15, a huge success.
The crafts mela, aiming to provide a business platform to artisans from the state and outside to showcase their work and attract tourists to the state, would end on December 27.
The government has set a target of business worth Rs 8 crore during the 13-day crafts mela and around five lakh tourists this year.
The event provides a huge platform for various talented artists, painters, weavers, sculptors and craftsmen from the state and around the country to display and sell their products.
The festival, to be organized by the Textiles and Handlooms department this year, will have 350 stalls while 30 food courts will be set up at the venue in Janata Maidan. Besides, 10 stalls will be dedicated to demonstration of weaving techniques of handloom products, said an official, who participated in a preparatory meeting presided over by the chief secretary JK Mohapatra recently.
Earlier, the Odisha Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) was organising the crafts mela.
The official said the chief secretary has advised the department to build a replica of the arch of Mukteswar Temple in the city at the entrance of the festival.
The items to be showcased include gift items, decorative items, art metal ware, wood ware, home utility items, fashion jewellery, purses, hand crafted textiles and furnishing, furniture, floral decorations, brocade goods, hand printed textiles, shoes and chappals, leather products and scarves. Traditional artefacts and handloom products like Banarsi saree, zari, zardozi, brocades, shawls, and woolens will also be on display at the stalls.
Cultural events will also be organised in the evening on each day of the festival to entertain the visitors. Folk dance performances by troupes from across the state would be the highlight of the cultural fare on offer.
It is to be noted that 7th Toshali National Crafts Mela had transacted business worth about Rs 6.93 crore. The festival proved to be a big crowd puller with about 30 lakh people visiting the stalls at the festival and watching cultural performances by artistes.
The food stalls put up at the festival venue recorded sales worth Rs 28 lakh last year, up from Rs 17 lakh the previous year.
The Mela transacted business worth about Rs 6.31 crore in 2011 compared to Rs 3.38 crore in 2010. While about 3.13 lakh visitors, including 503 foreigners, visited the Mela in 2011, 1.42 lakh visitors, including 252 foreigners, turned up in 2010.
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