A visitor admires products at NEDFi Haat

Aug. 22: To offer more space to the local entrepreneurs to showcase their products, the North Eastern Development Finance Corporation (NEDFi) has added 10 more stalls at its permanent exhibition place, popularly known as NEDFi Haat, in the city.

Chairman-cum managing director of NEDFi J.P. Saikia said this step has been taking into account the huge popularity of the Haat, which remains booked for almost all days of the year.

“The new stalls are pre-fabricated modular ones equipped with adequate power backup and facilities for display of boards and banners, among other facilities,” he said.

Since its inception in December 2002, 1,011 participants from different parts of Assam as well as the other states of the Norheast have displayed their creations at the various fairs and festivals held at the Haat and done business amounting to nearly Rs 3.69 crore.

Out of the 1,011 participants, 690 are women entrepreneurs, 426 self-help groups, 188 NGOs and 193 small-scale units.

The NEDFi chairman said according to the policy of the corporation they will give priority to the government departments and agencies, non-government organisations, small-scale industries and handloom and handicrafts in allotment of stalls.

The prime reason of the Haat becoming a popular venue among the local entrepreneurs and craftsmen for holding fairs and festivals is the negotiable rent of the stalls.

“Many of the entrepreneurs operate from home. They need a platform to find a market for their products and make NEDFi Haat an ideal steppingstone for them we rent our stalls at very nominal rates,” Saikia added. The NEDFi gives allotment of the stalls for a maximum period of 12 days.

The Haat was inaugurated on December 5, 2002, and some of the popular fairs held were Pre-Bhogali Utsav by NEDFi, handloom and handicraft fair by All Assam Women Welfare Society, X-Mas festival by Deegh Bani and craft exhibition by Craft Council of India, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Sikkim.

Saikia said Assam police were also utilising the NEDFi Haat for marketing the products of the villages covered under the different community programmes like Prahari, Aashwas and Sahajog, launched by them.

A handloom fair is on at the Haat where participants from all the northeastern states have participated with cane, bamboo, wrought iron furniture and other utility items.

According to NEDFi, the response from the buyers was quite encouraging on the first day.

The villages adopted by Assam police under its project Sahayog also participated in the fair.