150 stalls at Mahila Udyog Mela

Patna: Much to shoppers’ delight, a five-day fair organized by Bihar Mahila Udyog Sangh (BMUS) was inaugurated by Tripurari Sharan, principal secretary, industries department, at Shri Ram Utsav Palace on Boring Canal Road on Wednesday.
The fair has 150 stalls set up by women entrepreneurs from different parts of Bihar and places like Mumbai, Ranchi, Cutttak, Pune, Durgapur, Lahore, Delhi etc. It offers a wide variety of products, ranging from home décor items, apparels, accessories and edibles. Since festive season is round the corner, there are various stalls to meet the needs of festivals. Art lovers can get the items of Madhubani painting, manjusha and tikuli arts.
Apart from traditional art forms of Bihar, hand-embroidered Phulkari Bagh dupatta and dress material are another attraction of the fair. Taruna G Rathi, who has set her stall, said, “I handpick the products from artisans directly from the rural areas of Punjab. Actually, I give them the design of my choice and they do the work.”
Sunita Prakash’s stall has dress materials on different themes like Labour Day, Population Day, Dussehra and Chhath. She said, “I believe in carrying traditional things in a stylish way.” She also said her ‘bundis’ are likely to be a hit because of the upcoming election.
A stall on hanging vertical gardens and landscape is another charm of the mela. “Since apartment culture has become very common, people find it difficult to have gardens in their flats. Therefore, our motive is to give them that feel in a smaller area. We have hanging vertical garden where a shelf has different plants, with drip system fitted. The choice of plants and its size varies,” said Nikki Singh, owner of the stall.
Madhu Singh, a visitor purchasing diyas for Diwali, said, “This place is amazing because under one roof you can get everything. I don’t need to go anywhere else for Diwali shopping now. I will buy clothes, diyas and bandarwar today.” Edibles like homemade sattu, spices, pickles, papad, bari, namkeen and soya paneer are also available.
The craze for putting up stalls could be gauged from the fact that over 25 people were waiting to get space in the fair. “Women entrepreneurs wait for this fair because it provides them a good platform,” said BMUS president Pushpa Chopra.