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Members of the association at a news meet for the upcoming Diwali Mela in Ranchi on Saturday. Picture by Prashant Mitra
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Ranchi, Oct. 27: Diwali Mela is back to keep its annual date with the shoppers of Ranchi.
Organised by the 11-year-old Jharkhand IAS Officers’ Wives Association (JIASOWA) — an organisation of better halves of IAS officers serving the state — the fair, in its sixth year, will be held on Zilla School premises from November 2 to 5. Chief minister Arjun Munda will inaugurate the mela, where as many as 150 kiosks will be set up by micro entrepreneurs from across the state and the country too.
On the first day, the fair will open at 3pm and continue till 8pm. From the next day, it will carry on from 11am to 8pm. The entry fee is Rs 5 with the pass doubling up as lottery ticket. The organisers have made special parking arrangements for free on the campus.
“The purpose of the fair is to promote young entrepreneurs and make money that will go towards charity work undertaken by the society,” said secretary of JIASOWA and an alumnus of Banaras Hindu University’s journalism department Sarita Pandey at a news meet held at Sri Krishna Institute of Public Administration on Saturday.
Treasurer of the society Kimi Khyangte added: “Last year, we earned a profit of around Rs 28 lakh from the mela that was used for various social works.”
Boutique products, handicraft items, home appliances, garments, woollens, leather bags, pickles, badi, papad, furniture, decorative items, cosmetic items et al will be up for grabs. There will be a separate food section selling tea, coffee, samosa, idly and other tidbits.
However, Khyangte expressed doubts that profits would cross the Rs 28-lakh mark. “There is scope of limited earning as the number of kiosks has come down from 250 to 150 due to lack of space.”
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