ITANAGAR, 25 Apr: The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has launched a ‘one station, one product’ scheme across its five divisions as part of the government of India’s policy under the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative.
Under the scheme, traditional headgear, local galeys worn by tribal women and tribal men’s jackets are kept at the Naharlagun railway station to showcase the traditional costumes of Arunachal Pradesh.
At the Guwahati station, a stall featuring local Assamese gamocha has been set up to showcase and promote the rich cultural heritage of Assam.
Similarly, at the Alipurduar junction station, locally produced attractive jute and timber artefacts are being promoted.
The world-famous Darjeeling tea (which is a GI tagged product), enriched with its special aroma, is being promoted at the Darjeeling station of Katihar division.
The Famous Assam tea is kept at the New Tinsukia station to promote the delicate variety of this flavoured product.
The concept of the ‘one station, one product’ policy was announced this year in the union budget. The policy aims to promote a local product from each stop of the Indian Railways by making the railway station of that area a promotional and sales hub for the local products.
In this initiative, the railways would provide infrastructure and other assistance for the sale of the products at the stations to encourage local artisans to promote indigenous products and crafts.
Initially, the scheme is being implemented at five stations of the NFR.
In December last year, Chief Minister Pema Khandu had inaugurated a handloom & textile centre at the Naharlagun railway station.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and union MoS for Railways & Textiles Darshana Jardosh also inaugurated a similar handloom & textile centre at the Guwahati railway station on the same day.
