The five-day Swadeshi Swarozgar Deepawali Mela organised in the premises of the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) will end today. Several women Self Help Groups (SHGs) of Dehradun are participating in this event which began on Sunday.
All the stalls installed in this fair are selling local items or those products which are made from locally available material. Swadesh Kutumb Swayam Sahayta Samuh is one of the SHGs in this fair which are selling products like Diyas, Lakshmi and Ganesh idols, incense cones and incense sticks prepared from cow dung. According to Pawan Thapa, who is also working with these women of SHG, there is a good response for incense sticks and Diyas made from cow dung but people are not buying idols made from cow dung. Besides, he also stated that all the products they are selling in the stall like sling bags and carry bags besides cow dung products are prepared from waste materials.
Moreover, other SHGs are also selling products like local food, pulses and clothes. According to them, the response is not great but considering the Covid-19 situation, they did not have high expectations anyway. “We are selling foods which are mostly grown in mountainous areas of our State. Overall experience is fine as we already knew that people will not buy much compared to other years. Thursday is our last day here. We are thankful to mayor Sunil Uniyal ‘Gama’ for allowing us to sell our products here,” said a woman from Gadh Hiteshi Swayam Sahayta Samuh.
Thursday, 12 November 2020 | PNS | Dehradun
