Livelihood fair with 285 stalls opened by Hakim

KOLKATA: Firhad Hakim, state minister for Urban Development and Municipal Affairs inaugurated State Swayamsiddha Mela at Salt Lake on Sunday afternoon.

The fair has been organised under State Urban Livelihood Mission at Karunamoyee Central Park. The fair will continue till February 23 from 2pm to 8.30pm.

Inaugurating the mela, Hakim said the main purpose of the fair is to sell various products made by the Self Help Group members. The SHGs had suffered badly in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following the initiative taken by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, fairs are being organised across the state to support the SHGs. Sujit Bose, minister of state for Fire and Emergency Services, Krishna Chakraborty, chairperson, board of administrators, Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation, Debashis Sen, Chairman Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation were also present at the inaugural function along with the senior officials of State Urban Development Agency ( SUDA).A total of 285 stalls have been put up involving 900 to 1000 SHG members.

There are 68500 SHGs that have come up in the areas under 125 civic bodies in Bengal, said Shaon Sen, Joint Secretary SUDA.

The SHG members have been given training to improve the quality of goods they are making.