Ambala railway division to introduce moving trolleys under OSOP scheme

Nitish Sharma

Ambala, September 10

Following a lukewarm response to the One Station One Product (OSOP) scheme, the Ambala Division of the Northern Railways has decided to introduce moving trolleys at stations to attract artisans on an experimental basis.

The division has also increased the slot period from 15 days to three months at 12 out of 14 stations, besides slashing the licence fee at eight stations.

As per the railway officials, the division identified three railway stations — Ambala Cantonment, Chandigarh and Saharanpur — where four trolleys would be introduced on an experimental basis.

The OSOP aims at providing opportunities to local artisans, potters, weavers, handloom weavers and craftsmen, to earn livelihood through the sale outlets at the railway stations. The scheme was launched in April last year from the Chandigarh railway station and gradually to13 more stations — Saharanpur, Ambala Cantonment, Yamunanagar Jagadhri, Barara, Rajpura, Kalka, Shimla, Patiala, Dhuri, Barnala, Sirhind, Bathinda and Abohar.

A senior railway official said, “Since artisans and craftsmen used to complain that the 15-day slot was insufficient and about two to three days got wasted in just setting up the stalls, so it was not viable for them and a very few applications used to be received. As per the board policy, following the approval from the Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), the 15-day slot has been increased to three months. So far, only fixed kiosks used to be set up at one platform of the station. Passengers don’t go far away from their coaches to visit the kiosks, due to which the sellers get a limited footfall. But with the trolleys, the sellers will be able to move and attract the buyers.”

Except for Kalka and Shimla stations, the 15-day slot has been increased to three months at the remaining 12 stations. The licence fee has been reduced for eight stations —Yamunanagar, Barara, Rajpura, Sirhind, Dhuri, Abhoar, Patiala, and Barnala from Rs 1,000 to Rs 500 for 15 days, to attract the artisans.

Senior Divisional Commercial Manager (DCM) Naveen Kumar said, “Following the concerns raised by the artisans, the slot was increased to three months and the licence fee was also slashed at some stations. So far, there were fixed kiosks, but now, on an experimental basis, the division has decided to get four trolleys. The tender for the construction of the trolleys is most likely to be awarded soon and both existing and new vendors will be able to get them. A target has been set to introduce the trolleys by November and after seeing the response, more trolleys will be introduced.”