Subrata Mukherjee inaugurates Saras Mela at Central Park

Kolkata: Subrata Mukherjee, state minister for Panchayats and Rural Development, inaugurated Saras Mela at Central Park on Friday afternoon.

The fair will continue till December 4. Firhad Hakim, state Urban Development minister, Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, state Power minister, Shashi Panja, Minister of State for Women and Child Development and Social Welfare along with Sabyasachi Dutta, Mayor, Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation and Sujit Bose, MLA, Bidhannagar attended the inaugural ceremony.

Addressing the gathering, Mukherjee said the fair will help artisans and the Self Help Group (SHG) to showcase various products.

The SHGs from all over the state have brought products which include home decorations, pickles and sarees.

There are different household decorative items made of Dokra of Bankura and Patachitras from West Midnapore. Silk sarees, kurtas and kurtees have been brought by the SHGs from Malda and Murshidabad. Masks from Purulia and north Dinajpur have also been displayed.

There will be cultural

shows every evening where folk artists from Bengal will take part.

It may be mentioned that after coming to power in 2011, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee started giving monthly stipends to around two crore folk artists. The state government has also given them musical instruments like dhamsa and madal, flute. The state government is organising shows for them regularly.