Chhatrapati Sambhajingar: Delegates of the G20 summit relished and praised food items prepared by Women Self Help Groups (SHGs) for three days. They also applied henna (mehndi), and bought food and handicraft items.
Zilla Parishad (ZP) administration displayed all the products in exhibitions under the brand name of ‘Umed’ so that SHGs members should not be disappointed.
The international delegates stayed in the city for three days. District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) displayed 51 food products prepared by successful SHGs of the district, through the exhibitions organised in the hotels where the guests were staying.
The products included chikki, papad, wafers, sauces, pickles, laddoos and jaggery.
The exhibitions of foods and handicraft items, including Paithani Saree and earthen pots, were also held in tourist places. Farmers and bullock carts were also available for the guests. The arrangement for on-the-spot digital payment through barcode was made available for the shopping of items.
Additional chief executive officer of ZP and director of DRDA Sangeetadevi Patil under the guidance of ZP CEO and administrator Vikas Meena took efforts for a month to ensure the availability of qualitative food products and handicraft items of SHGs for the delegates. She was constantly monitoring the arrangement of the products.
The officers constantly took care of testing the presentation, packing, and quality of the products through laboratories.
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50 members of SHGs deployed
Most of the delegates were women. Considering this, 50 women who are members of SHGs were deployed to provide information about the products and other items.
The SHGs members took efforts for applying mehndi art on their palms and adored them with bangles in the exhibitions. They also helped international guests in wearing Paithani saree. Significantly, the guests wore traditional sarees and took their selfies.