4th Susakurtot organic mela underway at Lower Dzongu

MANGAN, 30 Dec:  Three-day organic mela ‘Susakurtot’ is underway here at Gor School ground in Lower Dzongu, North Sikkim. The mela started on 29 December and will go on till 31 December. This is the fourth time that the Susakurtot mela, during which traditional food and equipments of the Lepcha community is displayed, is being held here.
On the second day of the mela today, Minister for Energy & Power, Sonam Gyatso Lepcha was present as the chief guest accompanied by Zilla Adhakshya North, Anguli Lepcha as the special guest. The chief guest and other guests visited all the organic stalls and also inaugurated the sale of packaged Lum oranges initiated by Lum Orange Growers Association (LOGA) and promoted by Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Mangan which will be supplied for marketing.
Delivering the welcome address, Tshering Gyatso Lepcha underlined the importance of Susakurtot mela and further said that the committee has allowed only organic local products to be included in the mela.
The function also saw competitions in traditional games like pumpkin breaking, fastest hair combing, shot-put etc, among five wards of Lum/Gor/Sangok GPU. The Zilla Adhyaksha North in her address appreciated the initiative of the organic mela conducted by the villagers and further expressed that organic products have more demand in present times. She also stressed that people should supply their products outside the state and not only in Dzongu and North Sikkim.
Addressing the gathering, the chief guest Mr Lepcha said that people with positive thinking can do good work and progress and appealed to all for positive thinking.  “If we don’t preserve our tradition and culture, we won’t be able to preserve our identity”, he added.  Maximum development in Dzongu has been undertaken during the SDF government’s rule whose main focus is development, the Minister added.
Colourful cultural programmes were presented by different dance troupes. The function was attended by Deputy Director Agriculture, TT Lepcha, MO Dist Hospital Mangan, Dupzor Lepcha, Zilla member, LUM/Gor/Sangtok, Chedup Lepcha, panchayat members of respective wards and the general public.