Chandigarh, October 24: The Punjab Government has decided to organize LAADO mela twice a year after the grand success of the inaugural 2 day Mela which concluded today at Kisan Bhawan amid great fanfare.
Disclosing this, the Principal Secretary, Social Security, Women and Child Development Department Mrs. Raji P Shrivastava said that the inaugural Mela organized by the department in collaboration with the Self Employed Women’s Association has got a tremendous response.
Now, such efforts would be undertaken twice a year in April and October especially in different cities of the State so as to ensure the participation of the rural women. The Principal Secretary also said that the graduate women desirous of self entrepreneurship besides skilled anganwadi workers would be imparted training with facilitation in getting loans from the banks.
The Principal Secretary further elaborated that the Mela concluded today saw self help groups from Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, UP, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand participating and the material of many groups was sold on the first day itself which made them order more stuff. The Principal Secretary also said that the aim of the Mela was to encourage women entrepreneurs and provide them a viable platform.
In her address on the occasion, the Director of the department Mrs. Gurpreet Kaur Sapra emphasized the exploration of the possibilities of diversification of the items in the next mela. Mrs. Sapra also said that efforts would be made to ensure participation of all the states in order to expand it’s base. The Director also congratulated the officers as well as employees of the department for the success of the Mela.
