IRCTC-approved distributors are allowed to promote items on stations and trains. (Representational)
New Delhi:
Bringing again the nostalgia of shopping for native wares from hawkers and gorging on regional cuisines, the Railways will now enable distributors to promote their items on trains, as a part of its efforts to spice up native companies.
The Railways may even present them designer carts and kiosks to promote their wares at stations and on trains.
A part of the “One Station One Product’ coverage introduced this yr within the Union price range, the Railways goals to advertise a neighborhood product at every railway station.
Earlier, hawkers used to board trains at stations promoting native merchandise, principally meals objects to passengers. Nonetheless, they had been unlawful and raised each security and hygiene considerations. The Railways performed massive scale eviction drives which finally making them a rarity on board trains and even at stations.
Now, nonetheless, the variability on supply would vary from meals merchandise to handicrafts to family items to ornamental objects, and could be bought with permission of the nationwide transporter.
This isn’t all.
To make sure that the platforms on which the distributors promote their items will not be crowded with carts hampering passenger motion, the Railways has tied up with Ahmedabad-based Nationwide Institute of Design, which has designed kiosks on wheels having completely different compartments to carry various merchandise and built-in areas to retailer further items. The design even has areas the place merchandise might be displayed.
Presently, solely IRCTC-approved distributors are allowed to promote items on stations and trains.
Taking the idea additional of distributors promoting native wares at stations, they may even have permission to board trains and journey as much as one station to supply their items to passengers on board.
“The plan is to get in contact with native enterprise associations and supply them an opportunity to take up locations at railway platforms to promote native merchandise, be it handicrafts, meals, garments. Every vendor must pay a price of Rs 1,500 every they usually can promote their wares for 15 days, after which the house will likely be changed by one other vendor. These distributors may journey in trains and promote their merchandise by travelling as much as one station on board,” an official stated.
A take a look at run on over 78 stations has seen a per day incomes of Rs 5,000 for distributors below this coverage, the official stated.
So, passengers travelling on trains can now savour jalebi and shrikhand, dhokla and fafda as they cross via Ahmedabad, puri aloo at Mughalsarai station, dosa at Davangere railway station and buy of Molkalmuru sarees, purchase spice and copra merchandise at Arsikere; buy espresso in Hassan and Channapatana toys at Srirangapatna.
(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is printed from a syndicated feed.)
