15th edition of 'Banglar Tanter Haat' inaugurated, about 250 stalls set up

KOLKATA: The 15th edition 'Banglar Tanter Haat' fair was inaugurated on Sunday at the Central Park Mela ground in Salt Lake by the state Fire and Emergency Services minister Sujit Bose.

This year, around 250 stalls have been set up where weavers will showcase and sell their works. According to the officials of the Textile department, this year 104 primary Weavers Cooperative Society, 20 Khadi affiliated societies, 24 handloom clusters, 15 Self Help Groups, 60 artisans of the Micro Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) Directorate, 64 individual weavers along with Tantuja, Bangashree, Manjusha, Paschim Banga Resham Shilpi Samabaya Mahasangha LTD, Biswa Bangla marketing Corporation, West Bengal Khadi and Village Industries Board are participating.

State MSME and Textiles minister Chandranath Sinha said: "We have arranged accommodation for the weavers and participants of the fair. The department has taken up several initiatives to create a market for the weavers where they can sell their products." Former Minister of State (MoS) MSME Swapan Debnath said since the Trinamool Congress-led government came to power the administration had tried its best to improve the infrastructure for the weavers and provided financial support to such artisans.

The state government even constructed concrete roads for hassle-free transportation of 'taant' garments to the nearest market. Also the organisations, which are running in profit, were dying before Mamata Banerjee's tenure. Debnath also praised that the fair was organized before the Durga Puja as the weavers would be able to sell garments which they were unable to sell last year due to pandemic.