120 Artisans Open Stalls At State-Level Handicraft Exhibition In Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar: The State-level Handicraft Exhibition was opened to the public in Bhubaneswar on Thursday.

Minister of Handlooms, Textiles and Handicrafts Rita Sahu inaugurated the exhibition which provides a platform for marketing of the products of the clusters and individual artisans.

Organised by the Directorate of Handicrafts at IDCO Exhibition Ground in the city, the exclusive exhibition is meant to facilitate the artisans, SHGs and handicraft cooperative societies to display and sell their products.

As many as 120 handicraft artisans are participating in the exhibition from 23 districts. The organisers expect to transact a business of more than Rs one crore during the exhibition.

It may be noted that 51 different crafts, practised by more than 1.6 lakh artisans in varied degrees, have been approved by the state government. As many as 193 artisans from the state have been honoured with national awards including 5 Padma Awards and 13 Shilpigurus. Besides, 342 artisans have been conferred with state-level awards.

Pranati Chotray, Director, Handicrafts; Kalyani Patnaik, MD, Utkalika and Saroj Kumar Patel, Special Secretary, HTH department were also present on the occasion.