Preparations for the much-awaited fortnight-long Onam time Saras Fair of the Union Ministry of Rural Development (UMRD) to be held at the Asramam maidan from August 31 to September 13 are facing a setback because of the proposed visit by Vice President Hamid Anzari to Kollam on August 29.
The visit of Mr. Ansari is to unveil a statue of former SN College Principal M. Sreenivaan on the college grounds.
The Saras fair venue is the location where the Vice President will be landing with his entourage in three helicopters. For security reasons, the Saras organisers have been asked by the police to pull down the constructions made for the fair pavilion. The police formally informed the Saras fair organisers that the National Security Guards had given directions that there should be no constructions in the vicinity of the helipad where the VVIP lands. The information has left Saras organisers in a fix.
Only fair for Kerala
The fair is coming up on a 71,000-sq-ft venue and the work on the pavilion is half way through. It is the only fair for Kerala in this year’s Saras calendar.
The Kudumbasree Mission is one of the prime organisers of the fair. Its director (administration and finance) N.K. Jaya said the construction of the pavilion had been entrusted to a contractor through a formal tender process at a cost of Rs.47.50 lakh. To pull down what had been put up would incur expenses touching more than Rs.12 lakh and the organisers would have to foot it.
She said that they had no inkling about the Vice President’s visit even a day ago. The preparations for the fair had been finalised much in advance. About 2,000 artisans from various States were participating and some of the 250 stalls to be put up for them were coming up. There were also 10 stalls for government departments apart from a slew of cultural programmes.
Asking the organisers to pull down the construction at this stage would be like getting the fair postponed, she said.
