The Bangalore Santhe, a marketplace for rural products set up under the Metro tracks between the S V Road and the Byappanahalli Metro stations, was supposed to provide rural artists a market for their traditional handicrafts in the city.
More than 70 stalls, modelled on architecture from both North and South Karnataka, have been constructed. There is space, but no business, 20 artists — many of whom have brought handicrafts — complained.
Nearly two weeks after the Santhe was inaugurated, a number of stalls remain empty and 10 days after setting up shop at the Santhe, many artists are now thinking of shutting shop and returning to their home towns.
Sunitha Shenoy from Mangalore came here to sell her home-made juice concentrates and blankets. She expected to earn at least `6,000 a day, but is disappointed. “There are very few visitors to the Santhe. We have made only `3,000 in the last three days. Based on our prior experience, we should sell out all our wares in a week, but from the looks of it, we will be going back with most of what we brought to the market,” she said. She is surprised by the poor number of visitors to her stall and believed it is because of inadequate publicity.
Many others who had planned to sell their wares at the Santhe for at least a month, have now decided to shut shop on Sunday. The stalls were rented at a cost of `100 and the BMRCL would also get a 5 per cent commission. But seeing the poor business, this has been waived off till May 20, one of the reasons why the artists have decided to stay till then.
When contacted, BMRCL MD N Sivasailam said, “We seek the help of the media to highlight the Bangalore Santhe as a destination.”