Trade fair begins at Pragati Maidan today, visitors capped at 60K a day
NEW DELHI: President Ram Nath Kovind will inaugurate the 37th India International Trade Fair (IITF) on Tuesday at Pragati Maidan, marking the beginning of the 14-day annual event in the national capital.
After Digital India in 2016, this year the theme of the fair will celebrate another pet project of the Union government —“Startup India: Stand Up India”. Jharkhand and Vietnam will be the partner state and the country respectively.
People will have to get their tickets in advance either online or at Metro stations, as the number of visitors per day has been capped at 60,000.
There will be no ticket sales at the gates of Pragati Maidan.
The IITF will be held from 14 to 27 November this year, with the first four days reserved for business visitors. The fair will open for the general public on November 18, Saturday, between 9.30am and 7.30pm. While the general tickets will cost ₹60 and ₹40 for adults and children respectively on working days, ticket prices will increase to ₹120 and ₹60 on weekends.
“For the first time this year, there will be no tickets sold at the gates of Pragati Maidan,” said Sanjay Vashistha, the deputy manager (PR) at ITPO.
Last year, the average footfall was around 1.5 lakh people per day. This year, however, the number of visitors has been capped in view of the restricted space available to organise the mega event. Several pavilions at the Pragati Maidan have been demolished to make way for the massive revamp of the venue, which includes the construction of an Integrated Exhibition cum Convention Centre (IECC).
However, I TPO officials assured that the fair would be organised in eight halls. They have also erected six temporary hangars, some as large as 5,000 square metres, to accommodate exhibitors.
ITPO general manager J Gunasekaran had said that foreign participants would get 3,000 square metres of space, up from 1,900 square metres last year.