Mixed response  has been received  from the artisans about the sale at the National Handloom Expo which is now being held at Parade Ground in Dehradun. The Expo started on December 25 and will conclude on January 9.

The sale of the last three fairs held at Parade Ground in the past couple of months was not satisfactory, said the artisans. The same dismal trend  is continuing at the  National Handloom Expo with those participating in it  cutting a  sorry figure in terms of the volume of sale. Many of them say that the sale has  further gone down as compared to the previous years, a trend if not reversed might dissuade them to come here in the coming years. Some slam the management for providing them with scanty facilities as compared to the previous years while charging them the same in terms of rent and the like.

Artisans and stall owners from different districts of Uttarakhand say that the woolens they have offered on sale are drawing  very few  buyers. “Their reasoning is that the winter ending in February, the woolens would be of no use for them for the rest of the coming year,”  said Vinod Bhandari from Uttarkashi.

He added that the sale was  poor and in four days he has sold stoles worth Rs 15,000.

Anita Sarmah from Karnataka said that the event starting late this year has  contributed to the dismal state of the  sale. “Every year it starts from December 21 and goes on for twenty days. But this year, it started from December 25, resulting in the Christmas crowd thinning out.  The  affluent class people who buy sarees from our stalls have left for the vacation and the rest of the visitors are inclined to come for the window shopping.

last year, the sale was  relatively good.  But this year, things are bad with the sale slumping down  to   around Rs 50,000 from the previous year’s  around Rs 1 lakh,” she added.

“The arrangement and facilities provided to us this year is unsatisfactory too. The charge of the stall remaining the same as that of the previous years, the arrangements made available to us  are below the average,” said Gopal Roy who came from West Bengal. “For fifteen days, they have charged Rs 15,000 from us for one stall. We are being provided  with two lights. They charge us  extra for extra lights,” he further said, adding that they wondered over  the charge remaining the same despite the duration of the event  being reduced from the previous  20 days to 15 days.  

However, he sounded happy over the volume of sale. “We have nothing to grumble on this count, as we are drawing good number of buyers this year too.  The traditional sarees are the items the people are jostling to buy,” he said.  

Poonam Gujrati Chekhaliya coming from Gujarat said the sale so far is good. Handworks from Gujarat keep attracting the customers. “In five days, I have earned Rs 1 lakh. I  expect, given the trend, that more would come   in the new year,” she added.