Limited opportunity for merchandise display at Amritsar railway station irks local traders

Amritsar, April 27

City-based manufacturers have lamented that the Railways offered them only one stall to display their products at the railway station, which meant lack of ample opportunity to many indigenous items.

After clearance from the Railways, a stall of phulkari was set up at the station for a token amount of Rs 1,000. Set up for a fortnight, it will stay there till May 8.

Earlier, Northern Railway, with a view to promoting indigenous trade, had invited applications from city-based artisans, potters, weavers, SHG, co-operative societies, etc, for setting up stalls at the Amritsar railway station. The stalls were to be organised from April 9 to 24.

Piara Lal Seth, president of the PPBM, said the allotment of a stall was insufficient as the holy city is known for producing commodities like achaar, murabba, pappar warriyan, Punjabi jutti, shawls, tweeds and blazers in textile. These should be given ample space to be highlighted among visitors.

Naginder Singh, a trader, said these stalls would serve as a souvenir shops for the visitors. He demanded that the scheme should be made a permanent fixture. A large number of visitors coming to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple would come to know of local products during their visit at the local railway station.

Sudeep Singh, Senior DCM, said there was some change in the display of goods and token amount as the former scheme was directly handled by Northern Railway and the latter by the Ferozepur division. He said at present the scheme to promote indigenous industry was at its nascent stage and suitable changes would be introduced in future.