[ Bengia Ajum ]
ITANAGAR, 28 Nov: A Sale of Articles of Rural Artisans Society (SARAS) Mela, being organised by the Arunachal State Rural Livelihoods Mission (ArSRLM) at IG Park here, started on Monday and will end on 4 December but with a poor attendance disheartening the artisans.
Self-help groups (SHG) from various districts of the state are displaying their products, ranging from crafts to clothes, food items, etc, during the mela. There are participants from Tripura and from Ladakh union territory also.
However, poor footfall at the mela has disheartened the participating SHG members. “We came all the way from eastern Arunachal to sell our produce. But not many people are turning up to buy in the mela. Looks like the majority of people are not even aware that such a mela is going on,” said a woman running a stall at the venue.
The majority of the products are locally made, and are organic in nature. “The products are the result of our hard work. Unlike other festivals of the state, where prices are often very high, in this mela all products are being sold at a reasonable price by the SHGs. I appeal to the people of the ICR to visit the mela and buy our products and support the ‘vocal for local’ initiative,” the woman added.
One of the visitors lamented that the mela was not properly publicised by the ArSRLM, due to which people are not aware of it.
“The department should have conducted a wide publicity campaign in the local dailies and on social media. I also luckily happened to see an advertisement hoarding about the mela near the road and decided to visit in order to check out some local stuff,” the visitor said.
