KCR to make 'numaish' better than Delhi exhibitions

Hyderabad, Jan 1 (IANS) Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao Thursday promised to develop Hyderabad's famous 'numaish' better than Delhi's Pragati Maidan.

Inaugurating 75th All India Industrial Exhibition, he said the government would do everything to make the annual exhibition an ideal event in the entire country.

KCR, as the chief minister is popularly known, called for modernizing 'numaish' in line with the innovations around the world.

He offered to share his own experiences to further promote 'numaish', as the exhibition here is popularly known

Alleging that the Exhibition Society, which organizes the 45-day-old exhibition, faced discrimination in the united Andhra Pradesh, he promised all support to the body.

Lauding the noble work being done by the society, which runs 18 non-profit educational institutions, KCR announced that the government will give ownership of Exhibition Grounds to the society within a week. He lamented that though the society has been organizing 'numaish' since 1938, it remained a lessee.

The chief minister, however, advised to the society to preserve the open space as it is and not to build any new building. He promised to allot government land elsewhere for building new institutions.

On the occasion of the golden jubilee celebrations, KCR felicitated six traders, who had set up stalls at the first exhibition in 1938. Three senior members of the society were also felicitated.

Telangana Finance Minister Etela Rajender, who is president of the society, said they would soon set up a school for orphans in Karimnagar district.

D. Gangadhar Rao, vice-president, Exhibition Society, said 2,400 to 2,500 stalls would be set up this year.

The society expects 23 to 24 lakh visitors, against 21 lakh in the last edition.