Patna, March 7: With Holi round the corner, the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) under ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises has organised a nine-day exhibition, “Khadi and Gramudyog Darshan” on its premises at Maurya Lok Complex.
The event started on March 5 and would continue till March 13.
The manager, KVIC, B.B. Girimath, Patna at a news conference today, said: “Keeping the interests and needs of the people of Patna in mind, we have put up various stalls like Madhubani paintings, incense sticks made of cowdung, herbal shampoos and soaps, honey from litchi. Not only this, khadi dress materials are one of the main attractions of the exhibition.”
Kshirod Pal, from Murshidabad in Bengal, said: “We are here with matka and kantha saris.” In the business for 26 years, Pal is hopeful of getting returns.
Krishna Kumar Jha, at another stall selling Madhubani paintings, has also put up saris, suits and dupattas. He said: “We have dupattas starting from Rs 600 and saris worth up to Rs 5,500. All of them have Madhubani paintings on them.”
The paintings carry Radha-Krishna images playing with each other on elephant and other paintings. Jha added: “We also have cards (of hard paper) with these paintings with hand-made colours on them. These cards range from Rs 20 to Rs 2,000.”
The shampoos and soaps being sold in the exhibition are herbal and the soaps come in various with fragrances like rose water, neem and many others. Even scrubs are being sold. Rajeev Kumar has come with ghani oil.
Rajeev said: “If a person is suffering from sinusitis, he should put two drops of the oil in the nose every morning on an empty stomach. The disease would go away with no need of an operation. Not only this, my oil has many more advantages. It is prepared without the use of any colours or chemicals. The oil has been crushed in wood and not in iron.”
Arun Prakash, who has been in the business of incense sticks, has set up a stall. He said: “My products are non-synthetic and they are prepared without the use of chemicals.”
Known for sticks made of cowdung, Prakash said: “In an exhibition in which I had participated, these sticks were in much demand. We have also come up with rajnigandha sticks recently.”
