Festival week ends with estimated Rs.20-cr turnover

rajkot: the usual refrain is 'tahevar pachhi avjo' (come after festivals). for full five days, all activities ground to a halt come what may. the people in rajkot, and for that matter in saurashtra as a whole, do it in style --- to enjoy the 'people's mela' as they call it. from last friday, all work was suspended, be it at shopping centres, grain market, government offices or anywhere else.but, it is the economics of the festival, which is indeed interesting. according to rough calculations, the turnover in the past five days is put at rs.20 crore. this includes the transport, shopping , eating out, mandap service, lighting, sanitation and sundry items. nearly 20 lakh people from rajkot and its 30 km periphery thronged five festival fairs --- three in rajkot town, one each at ratanpar, 15 km from rajkot and ishwaria mahadev on the city outskirts. the daily turn-out of merry-makers was two lakh daily at the shastri maidan and one lakh each at virani school ground and bal bhavan and 50,000 each at ratanpar and ishwaria mahadev taking the total to 20 lakh. the lok mela samiti, headed by collector, has been getting a surplus of rs .20 to 25 lakh at the end of the show. this year's figure is anybody's guess, but it may surpass the previous figures, if the people's turn-out is any indication. the stall holders say the season is 'very good'. on an average, one person spends rs.100 in terms of to and fro transport, eating, shopping etc.,. a visit to the mela by a family of five could cost anywhere between rs.400 and 500. the figures of the estimated turn-over also include the cost of the infrastructure and facilities provided by the government and semi-government agencies like rajkot municipal corporation and the gujarat electricity board a three-wheeler, known as chhakda, was seen carrying as many as 30 people on board! risky business indeed! but those in upbeat mood, won't bother. such scenes were common everywhere the traffic was chaotic, on the rajkot-ratanpar road as well as rajkot-ishwaria mahadev road, with scores of vehicles having broken down on the way. of all the fairs the ones at ratanpar and ishweria attracted the religious-minded, mostly middle-aged and elderly as well as rural segment. whereas the three in rajkot beckoned people from all age groups, mostly young. it was a time for couples to move around hand-in-hand. folk fairs are organised at 325 places every year in saurashtra in the wake of monsoon. the principal attractions are tarnetar in surendranagar district and madhavpur in porbandar district.. as against the upbeat mood in rajkot and surrounding places, the mood in the earth-quake affected kutch, morbi-malia in rajkot district, jodia-dhrol in jamnagar district is rather sullen. it is a mini-vacation, not only for government employees, students but also for workers in factories and in markets as well. and, of late, there is a trend among the upwardly mobile to avoid the rush and go out of rajkot for a week. they include doctors, businessmen, industrialists. they favourite places are the diu island, mount abu and mehsana water park. of course, some prefer goa, matheran, or mahabaleshwar.