Muzaffarpur, Feb. 9: A 12-day-long National Trade Fair Expo 2012 started today at Khudiram Bose Memorial Football ground in the Company Bagh area to promote local industrial products. Small and big entrepreneurs have set up stalls to sell their products at subsidised rates.

Inaugurating the fair, inspector-general of police (Muzaffarpur zone) Gupteshwar Pandey said the event, organised for the second time in the district, would be a boost to industries.

Muzaffarpur Town MLA Suresh Sharma said: “The law and order situation in the state has improved and industrialists have started spreading their business here. This is a welcome change.”

The director of National Industrial Consumer Exhibition, Mohammad Shabbir Ahmed, said 165 stalls selling handicraft, electronic goods, vehicles, handloom, carpets and others have been put up.

States like Sikkim, Rajasthan, Bengal, Haryana and Punjab have also put up stalls exhibiting handicraft, beauty products and decorative items. The fair will also organise cultural sessions in the evening. Ahmed said the fair would serve the purpose of creating a business-friendly atmosphere in the state.