Agra post offices to double up as handicraft emporiums
Vishal Sharma
New Delhi/ Agra. Concerned at the operational losses accumulating each year in running its services in Agra, the Indian Postal Department has now come up with a concept to cover at least some of those.
According to postal department sources, the department’s post offices located in the tourist-frequented areas of Agra would soon take up the appearance of small handicraft emporiums. Here the department will begin retailing miniature marble Taj Mahal replicas and other souvenirs to the tourists.
The proposal for the project has already been sent to the Centre for approval and hopefully, the India Post Handicraft Emporiums will open their doors for the tourists in Agra within a couple of months.
Talking to the mediapersons today, RB Mishra, senior superintendent of Post, Agra, said besides the marble replicas of the Taj Mahal, there were a number of marble & leather handicrafts that found buyers. So far, the postal department had only acted as a shipping agent for the handicrafts purchased by tourists elsewhere, he added.
Inspired by the large number of tourists arriving to book the handicrafts purchased in the local emporiums to be sent to their home country through the postal department, he said the department had decided to open its own handicrafts shops inside the large post office buildings.
He said these handicraft shops would operate purely on a private franchise basis, where local artisans would get the shop franchise from the department.
New Delhi/ Agra. Concerned at the operational losses accumulating each year in running its services in Agra, the Indian Postal Department has now come up with a concept to cover at least some of those.
According to postal department sources, the department’s post offices located in the tourist-frequented areas of Agra would soon take up the appearance of small handicraft emporiums. Here the department will begin retailing miniature marble Taj Mahal replicas and other souvenirs to the tourists.
The proposal for the project has already been sent to the Centre for approval and hopefully, the India Post Handicraft Emporiums will open their doors for the tourists in Agra within a couple of months.
Talking to the mediapersons today, RB Mishra, senior superintendent of Post, Agra, said besides the marble replicas of the Taj Mahal, there were a number of marble & leather handicrafts that found buyers. So far, the postal department had only acted as a shipping agent for the handicrafts purchased by tourists elsewhere, he added.
Inspired by the large number of tourists arriving to book the handicrafts purchased in the local emporiums to be sent to their home country through the postal department, he said the department had decided to open its own handicrafts shops inside the large post office buildings.
He said these handicraft shops would operate purely on a private franchise basis, where local artisans would get the shop franchise from the department.
Comments