The concluding day of the National Handloom Expo held at Parade Ground in Dehradun for a fortnight saw good footfall of the visitors on Thursday. According to the manager of the expo, the sale in the exhibition was brisk and was better than the last year.

Even on the last day, the ground saw a good rush of people for shopping. A majority of traders who pitched stalls in the sprawling ground sounded happy over the volume of sale during the entire stretch of the Expo.

Concluding the exhibition, the deputy director, industry, Shelly Dabral thanked all the traders who had come from 17 different States. She also stated that the expo had received a profit of over Rs 6 crore. 

Nissar, a trader from Leh, Ladakh, said, “This is the first time I came to  an expo. I am happy that I have sold a good deal. Our main items included pashmina shawl and needlework shawl. The most expensive was pashmina shawl which is priced at Rs 5,000 and all of them have been sold out.”

Another trader Durga Das, who came from Himachal Pradesh and has been coming to the expo for the past 20 years, said, “The sale this year is very good, I have been so regular in the expo that I have some fixed customers. We have brought many items but ‘Himachali Topi’ has been sold the most. Its price varies from Rs 200 to Rs 400.”

The Uttarakhand stalls, however, have mixed response about the sale. According to some traders, the sale this time was better than last year. However, Sandeep Pal from Uttarakhand said, “The volume of sale last year was better than this year. This year, we have received fewer buyers. The price of the items we sold  started  from Rs 150 which is of Lohi (Shawl). The range was from Rs 150 to Rs 5,000.”