With shopping festival, fair, Haryana gears up for Commonwealth Games

A fair on the lines of the Surajkund Mela and a shopping festival will take off in Haryana, coinciding with the 2010 Commonwealth Games (CWG) in New Delhi in October that is expected to pull in thousands of tourists.

Haryana Tourism will organise the shopping festival at Gurgaon during the CWG, said financial commissioner and principal secretary Keshni Anand Arora. A pre-shopping festival would also be organised in February at Gurgaon to assess the arrangements needed for the October event.

A 'mela' or fair on the pattern of the famous Surajkund Crafts Mela would be organised to showcase the heritage and handicraft of the state.

Arora said local malls and shopping centres would be involved in organising shopping festivals on the lines of the Dubai shopping festival during the CWG.

Haryana Tourism Minister O.P. Jain said the state had so far ensured availability of 6,650 rooms in the national capital region (NCR) around Delhi for the CWG.

He said the sites of 50 acres each had been identified at Dudahera near Gurgaon and at Surajkund, which could be used as camping sites during the international sporting event to accommodate tourists coming to India to watch the CWG.

Gurgaon will host the rifle shooting events of the CWG at the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) shooting range. Arora said roads and other infrastructure around this venue were being upgraded for the CWG.