BITA expo postponed to June-end

Kolkata: Bihar IT Association (BITA) will be holding its core committee meeting next week to deliberate on three crucial issues pending for the association. In the first place, BITA will be finalizing the dates for the election scheduled in August along with the dates for this year's IT expo. Also, a decision will be taken to dispense the undistributed funds collected in the Flood Relief Program of BITA.

"Next week, we will hold our core committee meeting. We will be finalizing the date for the annual general meeting of BITA which may take place by the end of June and thereafter take up the issue of election," said PK Sinha, Spokesperson, BITA.

"Also, we will be taking up the issue for holding our annual IT expo. Incidentally, we are targeting to keep the expo in June-end as the rainy season is already in. This time, however, we will have to carry over the expo all alone and will be holding it in a hotel as open space is not preferable during this rainy season," Sinha added.

Reinstating Sinha's claims, Naveen Gupta, Secretary, BITA said, "Last year we had the expo in May and it was a huge success. However, this time we are not looking at May because of the hot and humid weather. Costs will soar sky high if we attempt to take on the expo this month and also, footfall would have been much less."

Sources in BITA suggested that the expo scheduled for June-July may take place in November.

"September is the ideal time for the expo. There won't be much heat and the weather is pleasant during those times. This will ensure we have a good footfall. Also, talks are on to host the AGM in June-July. So, I doubt whether we can have the expo then with the AGM and elections in the pipeline," a dealer said on condition of anonymity.

BITA has cited poor weather conditions as the primary reason for postponing the expo. Some dealers in the region suggested that the global slowdown is the prime suspect for the postponing of the expo.

"The state is reeling under the pressure of the slowdown. Market conditions are poor and retail has been direly affected. I think no one would dare to go for an expo in this poor market scenario," a dealer in the region said.

The association had collected huge funds under its Flood Relief program when BITA had gone to the remotest parts of Bihar to help flood victims in September last year. Now, after closing the program with huge success, the association still has unused funds and is trying to distribute it to the district administration.