CWG shopping festival begins today

Decorated and illuminated markets will greet visitors as the Commonwealth Games Shopping Festival at mjor markets in the capital will be inaugurated in New Delhi on Saturday evening, an official said. Commonwealth Games Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi would launch the festival at 5 pm
at Ajmal Khan Road in the Karol Bagh market.

"The festival will be on the lines of the Diwali preparations. It will offer attractive discounts, cultural activities and 100 percent satisfaction," Delhi Traders Association president Surinder Dhir told IANS.

According to an official, the festival has already created a lot of buzz in the form of queries from shoppers who are eagerly anticipating the offers and discounts.

The festival, an initiative of the Commonwealth Games 2010 Organising Committee and the Delhi Traders Association, will be held for 20 days till Oct 15 across all main markets in Delhi.

It will be held in popular markets like Greater Kailash, South Extension, Chandni Chowk, Karol Bagh, Lajpat Nagar, Connaught Place, Kamla Nagar, Ajmal Khan Road, Rajouri Garden and Chawri Bazar, to name a few.

The markets will also be decorated and illuminated to induce the spirit of the Games and provide visitors with an insight into the cultural heritage of India.

"Volunteers from a firm called Personal Shoppers India (PSI) which is an initiative of the All India Traders Congress (AITC) will assist the foreigners so that they are not fleeced," Dhir said.

Although PSI was launched a year back, it will exclusively work for the Commonwealth Games throughout the festival without any commission as a social responsibility, he added.

"The tourists can also log on to PSI's website and contact them to arrange customised shopping for them," Dhir said.

Some 7,000 participants and officials from 71 teams are expected to attend the Oct 3-14 Commonwealth Games, India's biggest sporting event after the 1982 Asian Games.