No awareness, outlet promoting artisans at Chandigarh railway station goes ‘unnoticed’

Radhika Pasrija

Chandigarh, December 31

Carved wooden items being sold at “One Station One Product” (OSOP) outlet at the Chandigarh Railway Station have failed to find many takers. Against the expected sales of Rs 10,000 every day, two cousins from Saharanpur — Aijaz Malik and Mohammad Shahadab — hardly sold items worth Rs 3,000-4,000 per day in the past three months.

As part of the government’s “Vocal for Local” initiative, the Ministry of Railways launched the OSOP last year to create opportunities for indigenous artisans and marginalised sections of society. A tender of Rs 6,000 is released for three months for selling products made by tribals, weavers and craftsmen at railway stations.

Malik and Shahadab have been into woodworking for 20 years as part of their family profession. They had included a wide range of wooden products, handcrafted by a chain of artisans in Saharanpur, at the outlet. These included games, toys, decorative items, tableware and kitchenware, besides acupressure equipment. Today was the last day of their three-month tender. They said the response towards their products could have been better, but it was a good experience.

Malik said, “On an average, we sold items worth Rs 3,000-4,000 every day, of which our profit was not more than 50 per cent. If we count our daily food expense of Rs 500, our profit cannot be estimated at more than Rs 1,000, excluding our rent for accommodation and money spent on buying things for the family.”

The reason behind low sales is said to be lack of awareness behind the motive of the outlet among passengers and visitors at the railway station. Even those who frequently travel do not know much about this initiative or the reason behind the existence of this outlet.

A middle-aged man, waiting for his train, said, “I travel almost every week by train. I assumed this outlet to be a random shop. Had I known the objective behind the initiative, I would have definitely considered promoting it and buying a few items.”

A blogger suggested, “Maybe the authorities should put on a flex or some kind of display board, mentioning the objective behind the initiative so as to garner more sales.”

Also a majority of the travellers reach the station just in time for boarding the train, which leaves little time for them to have a look around. The cousins wish the person who gets the next tender gets ample support from the authorities to publicise his products and does better.