Dharavi is the first star of railway’s scheme in Mumbai

The railways in Mumbai has picked up Dharavi's leather industry as the first face of the city's creativity under its ‘One Station-One Product' scheme. More sectors from the city will be picked up as soon as the concept gains momentum.

The initiative aims to encourage indigenous and specialised products and crafts of India by providing their creators display and sale outlets at railway stations across the country. The products will be specific to a place and could include artefacts and handicrafts. "Leather was chosen because handcrafted leatherworks and other leather products are popular in Dharavi. For other divisions, similar local products have been chosen, like in Kolhapur its chappals, Solapuri chaddar (textiles) at Solapur station, bamboo products at Nagpur," a CR spokesperson said.

The Dharavi leatherworks stall has been set up at Mumbai CSMT to showcase products, including purses and handbags, under the brand Khadi Gram Udyog, which has also been monitoring the quality of the products. On the Western Railway, Rajkot station was the first station to implement this initiative in order to promote the sale of local products with an impetus to "Vocal for Local". Various products made of terracotta such as clay cooking utensils, water glasses, bottles, bowls, embroidery, water pots, etc, are being displayed and sold in the stall at the station.

"The Western Railway has implemented the ‘One Station -One Product' initiative at Rajkot, Bhavnagar Terminus and Vadodara stations to boost the sale of local products. Rajkot station was nominated as the first station over WR to implement this pilot project," WR chief PRO Sumit Thakur said. Meanwhile, the Nagpur Railway Station of the Central Railway was one of the first stations to launch this project, said CR's chief PRO Shivaji Sutar said.