THE MINISTERS WHO STAYED AWAY
DAMP SQUIB: Sinha (left) and Rudy (right) were among the ministers expected to visit the expo, a no-show for the participants who received neither buyers nor visitors

As patriotic fervour swamped New York in the run-up to 9/11, a Delhi-based businessman organised an expo in the city last month and took a clutch of participants for a ride, literally, to the Big Apple. Now, the entire Indian establishment is red-faced at how the fair was allowed at all.

Wisitex Foundation, a firm that claims to be in the business of holding exhibitions for over three decades, and Mukesh Arora, its managing director, lured 15-odd participants to the India Tripple Expo 2002, a fair and in some ways a summer sale to promote Indian tourism and handicrafts, among other things. The venue was Pennsylvania Hotel in mid-town Manhattan. Wisitex had expected about 120 participants, but only 15 showed up. The company's coup was in being able to rope in the Ministry of Health as a co-sponsor for the event. Also, it had a no-objection certificate to hold the expo issued by the India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO), the premier body that oversees exhibitions in India and abroad.

POOR HOST: Mukesh Arora

The participants were lured not just by Wisitex's impressive sales pitch and glossy pre-fair presentations, but also by its announcement that the event would be attended by four ministers from Delhi-Health Minister Shatrughan Sinha, Minister for Agro and Rural Industries Kariya Munda, Minister of State for Commerce Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Delhi Industry Minister Deep Chand Bandhu. But not one of them attended the fair, not even Sinha whose ministry was the co-sponsor.

A memorandum submitted by 11 participants to Wisitex on August 24, even as the fair was in progress, said, "We are totally disappointed with the show. There are no buyers, no visitors, no business inquiries of any kind." One of the piqued participants, Tsering Wange from Himalayan Holidays, a tour and travel outfit in Arunachal Pradesh, told India Today, "We were impressed with their folders. Now we are disappointed and want our money back." Stuck with unsold goods, a few stall owners have located "friends" in Manhattan to help them retail their wares at major Indian hubs in the city, albeit at discounted prices.

Arora refuses to comment. "It is our company's policy that only our chairman will speak to the media." Back in Delhi, the responses of his father, Y.L. Arora, chairman of Wisitex, has nothing to do with the queries. "You underestimate me and my status." Later, responding to a faxed questionnaire, he said, "You should also ask the ministers why they didn't turn up."

In the ministries, it appears, Wisitex does not enjoy a good reputation. Says M. Satyamurthy, private secretary to Munda: "We were told by the Ministry of External Affairs that the company was not reliable." Rudy says that by using his name without confirming his participation, "the organisers committed a fraud".

Slipshod arrangements at the expo raise questions on how organisers like Wisitex are cleared for exhibitions abroad. A poor event only fetches a poor image for India. Officials at the ITPO headquarters in Delhi admit that the selection of Wisitex was not proper and no study was done on its organisational qualities. There have been similar no-shows in the past too. "We will ensure quality control and far more stringent checks for future events," promises Ranjan Chatterjee, ITPO's executive director. He must keep his words. Or the lessons from the Indian Tripple Expo would be forgotten by the time the next fair is held.

-Sayantan Chakravarty in Delhi with Anil Padmanabhan in New York