MP haats to promote rural items

Haat Bazaars will have e-commerce, Internet facilities

To provide a platform for rural products, the Madhya Pradesh government is planning to set up traditional Haat Bazaars all over the state. While construction work for the first Haat Bazaar in Bhopal has already started, work on 17 other projects is likely to be taken up by September.

The Bhopal Haat, being built at a cost of Rs 3.2 crore, is coming up on three acres of prime business area. It will have 40 sale counters, one exhibition hall, an office, four emporia, four small shops, an amphitheatre, four kitchen-cum-dining halls and dormitories.

Small-scale items, cottage industry items, handicrafts and items from self-help groups will be available in these Haat Bazaars.

"Rural product sellers will be identified by their district collectors for selling their products," an official in the rural development department told Business Standard.

The rural development department had made considerable investments in the project, he added.

Haat Bazaars will also come up 17 other locations, primarily places of tourist importance, including Khajuraho (Chhatarpur district), Maandu (Dhaar district), Kanha (Mandla district), Orchha (Tikamgarh), Chitrakoot (Satna), Bandhavgarh (Umaria), Saanchi (Raisen), Amarkantak (Shahdol), Indore, Ujjain, Jabalpur, Sidhi, Panna, Narsinghpur, and Shivpuri.

The Bhopal Haat Bazaar will be the coordination centre for the others. "We want to offer a platform for rural products, handicrafts and products manufactured and developed by self-help groups. A coordination committee has also been formed to monitor the project," said JN Kansotia, managing director of the MP Khadi Gramodyog Board, the nodal agency of the Haat Bazaar project.

Rural entrepreneurs, who will sell their products at the Haat Bazaar, will be offered basic facilities like dining, cooking and lodging at the Haat Bazaar. Moreover, they will have the opportunity to hold various cultural programmes at the amphitheatres in these Haats.

Moreover, the Haat Bazaar will have e-commerce and Internet facilities, training on new dying and colour-mixing techniques, attractive packaging workshops and buyer-seller meets.

The state's rural products like Chanderi and Maheshwar saris, Athana-Nadna print of Sheopur and Budni, Bagh print of Dhar, Bhairugarh print of Ujjain, sculptures and bell-metal articles of Tikamgarh, terra-cotta of Shahpur (Betul), jute and papeir mache items of Gwalior, shellac products of Sidhi district, joss-sticks, food items, packaged food items will be the main attraction at the Haat Bazaars.

"We have planned a calendar to give a thematic presentation to the Bhopal Haat. It will be organised for different products and different cultures every week. Various tribal men will add spice to the flavor through their culinary skills at the Bhopal Haat," said Kansotia. Come September and it will be party time for rural entrepreneurs in the state.

Rural push

• The Bhopal Haat, being built at a cost of Rs 3.2 crore, is coming up on three acres of prime business area
• Small-scale items, cottage industry items, handicrafts and items from self-help groups will be available in these Haats