The Hindu : New Delhi News : Leather fair opens amid protests by animal lovers

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Oct 24, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

New Delhi

New Delhi

Leather fair opens amid protests by animal lovers

Special Correspondent

Photo: V. V. Krishnan

‘Use natural fibre’: Animal lovers dressed as a skinned cow and skinned horse in a giant shoe box during a protest at the venue of the International Leather Fair in the Capital on Friday.

NEW DELHI: The three-day 17th Delhi International Leather Fair opened at Pragati Maidan here on Friday amid protests by animal rights group activists.

The specialised business-to-business leather event organised by the India Trade Promotion Organisation was inaugurated by Delhi’s Lieutenant-Governor Tejendra Khanna. Over a hundred leading companies from India, China, Italy, Taiwan and Thailand are displaying a wide range of products at the fair. Addressing the domestic and foreign participants, Mr. Khanna said the Indian leather industry had witnessed substantial growth in recent years and was emerging as a major global player for finished quality leather products with leading international brands sourcing leather and leather products from India.

He asked the leather export community to be competitive and follow good business ethics while maintaining global standards in quality and reliability so that the export target of US $ 7.03 billion in respect of leather and leather products could be achieved by 2013-14.

Meanwhile, an organiser of the protest backed by placards proclaiming “leather is murder” and “leather is evil” said their aim was to “raise awareness about how animals are treated before they are turned into leather shoes, bags and other products”.

The protesters sought to encourage use of synthetic and natural fibre material among shoppers.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

New Delhi