Crafts mela to coincide with Brahmotsavam

By Our Staff Reporter

TIRUPATI, SEPT. 16. Coinciding with the annual ``Brahmotsavam'' of Lord Venkateswara, the All India Crafts Mela will be held at Tirupati from September 19 to October 3.

The venue of the mela is the ``Urban Haat'' site, jointly promoted by the Central Government's Ministry of Textiles and State's Tourism Department at a cost of Rs.1.61 crores on Tiruchanur road here to give a boost to local arts and crafts.

The ``Haat'', second in the country and first in AP, will be formally inaugurated by the Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu on September 24 when he will visit the temple town to present ``pattu vasthralu'' to the Lord on behalf of the government on the occasion of ``Garuda Seva'' as part of the ``Brahmotsavam''.

Around 100 artisans, craftsmen and weavers from various parts of the country will take part in the mela. The crafts from our State include Kondapalli toys, Kalamkari prints, wood and stone carvings, Durries, Pochampalli tie and dye material and studded bangles.

Besides, craftsmen in the areas of bidri, sandalwood, bead jewellery, ceramic toys, terracotta, blue art pottery, wooden and cane furniture, Mithila and Madhubani paintings, Phulkari and Chikan dress material and bronze icons from all over the country will put up stalls.

Added to this is the ``Rayalaseema food and dance festival'', which will serve as a parallel platform to market the cuisines and mouth-watering delicacies of Rayalaseema like ``Jonna Roti'', ``Sajja Roti'', ``Raagi sangati'' and ``Alasanda vada''.

Announcing this to presspersons, the tourism director, Mr. G. Kishan Rao, said that Tirupati being a major pilgrim centre, there was lesser need for his department to go in search of market and the department's only job was to provide sufficient infrastructure to streamline the process of linking artisans and customers directly avoiding middlemen. Further, the temple town was chosen for the ``Urban Haat'' due to its touch with local crafts like wood carving and Kalamkari prints.

Work on the administrative office, dormitory blocks to visiting artisans and a boat house are under progress, while the cluster of stalls, amphi theater, internal roads and civic amenities were completed in the first phase itself, he said.

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Section  : Southern States
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