Owner of Upvan Nursery Saroj Choudhary (right) sells a plant to a customer at the fair organised by Bihar Mahila Udyog Sangh at Narayan Samaroh Hall in Patna on Thursday. Picture by Ashok Sinha

Patna, Sept. 8: Residents of the state capital can pick up fancy bags or Chinese blinds while they nibble on special snacks for the next five days at Narayan Samaroh Hall on East Boring Canal Road.

Bihar Mahila Udyog Sangh has organised an exhibition at the venue that has traditional Rajasthani home decors, Mithila paintings, Kutli artwork, saris with Batik print, as well as pickles and papad on offer.

The organisers said their aim in co-ordinating this fair was to strengthen the presence of women entrepreneurs in the market.

Pushpa Chopra, the chairperson of Bihar Mahila Udyog Sangh, said: “The aim of this fair is to provide a platform for women entrepreneurs from all over the country. It will help them strengthen their position in the market.”

Of the 81 stalls at the venue most have been put up by women. They took the opportunity to display their wares and attract customers. While some put out household commodities, others put saris or food items on show.

Saroj Choudhary, the owner of Upvan Nursery, has displayed rare plants at her stall in the fair. Visitors can pick up rare desert rose saplings here. These plants, brought from Bangkok, are priced between Rs 200 and Rs 500. Another hit at her stall are the lemon saplings, brought from Andhra Pradesh.

Choudhary said this high-yield variety was priced at Rs 150, Rs 300 and Rs 500, according to their size.

She also said: “I have set up this nursery not just for business. I also want to promote a good garden culture among the residents of Patna.”

Visitors, too, were delighted with the large variety on offer.

Homemaker Vinita Mishra, 52, who came to the exhibition today, said: “This fair is really wonderful. The best stall for me was the Upvan Nursery. I also liked the stall that had Batik saris. I bought two of those.”

Another visitor, Khushboo Kumari, said: “The exhibition has a good range of imitation jewellery on offer.”

The BA first-year student of Magadh Mahila College added: “The jewellery is a little expensive but very attractive.”

Those who feel that an outing is incomplete without good food, the stall of Akshat Namkeen is a must.

Sarita Jain, the owner of this stall, has 25 kinds of snacks on offer. Visitors can savour tambora from Sikkim and jhal muri from Bengal, besides other Rajasthani and Gujarati snacks.

Sarita said: “Most of the items available at my stall are exclusive.” A special mixture — palak bhujia — made from spinach and conceived by her has been a hit, claimed the stall owner.

If you like a little something to enhance the taste of your snack, try out the stall put up by Manju Jha. She has 15 different of pickles to offer. Lemon, chilli and mango are some of the popular flavours available at this kiosk.