The ‘Lepakshi Cotton and Silk Mela’ organised by Andhra Pradesh Handicrafts Development Corporation Limited is seeing massive crowds this year.
The State government-run Corporation, holds this expo annually in the period between Vaikunta Ekadasi, New Year and Sankranti festival, when Tirupati witnesses a huge pilgrim footfall — turning out to be lucrative for the visiting artisans, weavers and craftsmen who come from across the country to set up their stalls.
New location
The event was inaugurated recently by Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) trust board chairman and local MLA Bhumana Karunakar Reddy at the DPR Convention Hall, situated behind the ‘Srinivasam’ pilgrim accommodation complex. The expo was previously conducted for nearly a decade at the Sindhura Hall near APSRTC bus station.
The expo offers cotton and silk products from Gadwal, Venkatagiri, Pochampally, Narayanpet, Uppada, Mangalagiri and Chirala, besides linenware, towels and lungis from Warangal.
Beyond the Telugu-speaking states, there are stalls selling textile products that are ethnic to Bengal, Madurai, Odisha, Jharkhand, Kanchi, Benaras, Bhagalpur, Kashmir, Lucknow, Jaipur and more, says B.P. Venkatesam, manager of Lepakshi Handicrafts Emporium. There are stalls selling Hyderabad pearls, bangles and artificial jewellery, homemade pickles masala and chutneys, he adds.
