Amention of Hastashilpa Mela sends waves of excitement through regulars to winter fairs, but few know that several times in a year there are smaller fairs organised under the same banner at Eco Park’s gate 5, which is the Biswa Bangla Shilpi Haat entrance.

Such a state Hastashilpa Mela is currently underway at Eco Park. The venue is spacious and beautiful — artisans are spread across cottages, and some have occupied the floor in corridors that are open-air but sheltered by concrete roofs. The only thing missing is shoppers.

“No one knows about this fair,” said Sankha Roy, a day after it had opened, on Saturday. He has come with jewellery from south Calcutta. “Footfall is next to nil. The handful of visitors coming are those who had anyway come to Eco Park and happened to chance upon us.”

The winter edition of Hastashilpa Mela is a big affair and an immensely popular one. It was held at Eco Park’s gate 1 for several years, but this winter it was shifted to City Square, outside Central Mall, in New Town. Another pre-Puja edition under the Hastashilpa Mela banner usually sets up shop at Aikatan, Salt Lake. This one, too, draws robust footfall. But the edition currently on at Eco Park’s gate 5 has not taken off.

“This is a government fair, so we aren’t having to pay for space. We have come as we were asked to, but there are no sales,” says Kakali Ghosh, who has come from Salt Lake’s HA Block with jewellery. Others have got handicrafts, clothes, bags etc, but most artisans are twiddling their thumbs.

The fair is organised by the state department of micro, small and medium enterprises and textile. “Such fairs are held eight or nine times a year. These fairs are held for durations of 14 to 20 days with 60-70 artisans,” a department official said. “The weather is playing spoilsport,” he admitted.

Footfall was reportedly more sparse earlier as visitors to Eco Park did not use Gate 5. “We requested the park authorities to open an entry to our mela space from the Gate 4 parking lot. Since then, some visitors to Seven Wonders come to check out the fair as well,” he added.

The fair is on till July 27. “Officially, the timings are from 10am to 8pm, but with such low footfall, most of us are coming at 1pm,” added Roy.

Traditional handicrafts are also available to buy at the Banglar Haat permanent stall at the entry to the Biswa Bangla Exhibition centre. It was inaugurated on February 20 by chief minister Mamata Banerjee. But the official refused to accept that there is a glut of handicraft offerings in New Town. “Banglar Haat has five to six stalls with 30-35 artisans. Plus there is a Biswa Bangla showroom. It sees steady sales conversion of whatever footfall it gets. Unlike the Eco Park visitors, here the buyers are residents of New Town. You cannot expect people from afar coming to check out so few stalls,” the official added.