No Pakistani stalls at Hyderabad's 'numaish'

The event, which completes 75 years, will be the first event after formation of a separate Telangana state.

"No traders from Pakistan have applied for setting up stalls," said D. Gangadhar Rao, vice president, Exhibition Society, the organisers of the annual exhibition.

The traders from Pakistan decided to skip the event due to the bitter experience they had in the previous edition.

About 12 Pakistani traders had to abruptly wind up their stalls in January this year when Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) and some groups staged a protest over the killing of two Indian soldiers on the border by the Pakistan Army.

The traders from Pakistan had returned to the exhibition after a gap of a few years and did brisk business for 15 days before the protest forced them to withdraw.

P. Narotham Reddy, honorary secretary of the society, told reporters that 2,400-2,500 stalls will be set up during the 45-day exhibition.

Traders from various states and the departments of both the state and central governments will have their stalls. The previous edition had 2,200 participants.

The organisers expect 23-24 lakh visitors, against 21 lakh in the last edition.

Reddy said the society, which runs 18 educational institutions in Hyderabad and across Telangana, earned a profit of Rs.11 crore. It spends 85 percent of the earnings on the institutions. The society expects the earnings to go up by Rs.1-2 crore this year.

Society president and Telangana Finance Minister E. Rajender said Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao will inaugurate the platinum jubilee celebrations of the society and the exhibition Thursday.

He assured all help from the government to the society.

He also hinted that exhibition land allotted to some state-owned organisations in the past may be taken back to decongest the area and provide ample parking facility for visitors.

The minister announced that the society will set up a school for orphans in Karimnagar district. He said the society also planned to start a degree college.

On the occasion of platinum jubilee, the society will felicitate six traders who participated in the first exhibition in 1938.

It was a group of students from Osmania University who established the society to organize the event and use its proceeds for the educational development of the needy.

Mir Osman Ali Khan, the last Nizam or ruler of Hyderabad State, had inaugurated the first exhibition at Public Gardens.

The event was later shifted to Exhibition Grounds, the present venue allotted by him for the society.