Urban Haat, a dedicated cluster of buildings that has come up at the Dr. Shivaram Karanth Pilikula Nisargadhama, will soon emerge as a place where artisans from different parts of the country can demonstrate, exhibit and sell their products.
This will be another feather in the cap for the park, a major tourist attraction in the city.
The Haat is a cluster of nine buildings built at a cost of Rs. 3.11 crore granted by the Union and State governments. It has four buildings with 40 permanent exhibition stalls and 10 stalls in each building, two buildings with two exhibition halls, two dormitory buildings for men and women and a restaurant.
The Haat is likely to be inaugurated in the last week of December this year, S.A. Prabhakara Sharma, Executive Director of the Nisargadhama told The Hindu .
The plan is to throw open the ‘haat’ (which means market) during the ‘Karavali Utsav’, which is scheduled to be held from December 21 to January 31, to attract visitors.
As Christmas too would attract non-resident Indians (NRIs) to their native places, it would be the ideal time to inaugurate it and hold an exhibition, he said.
He said the Union Ministry of Textiles and Handlooms had identified artisans and issued identity cards to them.
The Ministry was also maintaining their database. Such artisans could demonstrate, exhibit and sell their products at the government-sponsored exhibitions at the haat.
Shows and stallsRakesh Rai A., Assistant Project Officer of the Urban Haat Project, said the Union government gave funds for organising three categories of government shows at the haat.
They included Gandhi Shilp Bazaar — for which the Centre gave 100 per cent grants — and Craft Bazaar and demonstrative exhibitions — for which they gave 75 per cent grant. The balance amount would have to be borne by the Nisargadhama society.
In addition, the Nisargadhama could organise private shows by collecting nominal rents from the artisans, who need not be government card holders, for maintenance of the haat.
The objective was to keep the haat constantly engaged, he said.
Artisans can demonstrate, exhibit and sell different products at the haat. Some of the products the public can expect include: Madubani paintings, Dhocra casting, Tanjavur paintings, bead jewellery, pearls, leather, wood inlay, agarbathi, imitation jewellery, tribal jewellery, lavancha, paper machine, patch work, natural fibre, metal artware, cane and bamboo, leather juthi, Kantha stitch saris, shawls, iron, terracotta, tie and dye, dhurry, sea shells, Kalamkari, mat work, Sholapitti, chikan art work, glass crafts, blue pottery, kasuthi saris, handlooms, jute crafts, applique, Meenakari paintings, Khadi, Banarsi saris, block prints, Sharanpur wood crafts, Shanthinikethan bags, Bagru and Dabu print, marble artefact, real gold work and horn products.
