JOIN USNature's bounty fails to attract urban populace
Fresh honey, snacks and eatables, spreading aroma and attracting people, khadi shirts, pants, kurtas in a variety of colours, ayurvedic products — claiming to cure diseases — are on display at a district level Khadi mela at Basavaraj Swamiji Bhavan in Chamarajanagar.
The mela has been organised by State Khadi and Gramodyog Board, Nabard and district industries centre, where associations and farmers from various districts arrive in large numbers to exhibit their products and do business. The mela was inaugurated as part of Republic day and attracted people, but the business was not as good as expected.
A farmer had brought organic manure, carved toys were attracting curious onlookers along with khadi bags with new designs. A stall selling books on food, education, health, yoga and literature was also open at the mela.
The citizens here have failed to make use of the opportunity to buy khadi products, but a private company that had organised a sale of plastic and other household products did roaring business some weeks ago.
Although the government had been promoting handicraft products and striving to bring artisans into the mainstream of society, the lukewarm response for khadi products has come as a big disappointment for traders and organisers.
A vendor who had come from Nagavalli to sell honey said the mela would be over by Monday and he had sold only two kgs of honey.
The people here are not encouraging the products, he lamented.