KUMUD JENAMANI
Jamshedpur, Aug 30: In a noble gesture hardly seen among the bureaucrats, East Singhbhum Deputy Commissioner Manjunath Bhajantri has decided to set up an enclosure for the local artisans to sell their handicrafts at Sakchi market.
Christened as “Vishwakarma Point” the enclosure will be set up at a convenient corner in Sanjay Market of the Sakchi Market soon.
Bhajantri mooted installing the Vishwakarma Point after he had visited a remote village known as Andharjhor in the Bodam block of the district on Tuesday.
The residents of the Andharjhor are highly skilled in making musical instruments, including ‘tabla’ but they lack a proper market to sell their handicrafts.
During his interaction with the Andharjhor’s artisans, Bhajantri learned that long ago several of them would sell their goods at a vacant place near the Bajrangbali temple close to the Sanjay Market, but in the course of time, the place was occupied by others for business purposes.
In the absence of a suitable place for the sale of handicrafts, the Andharjhor artisans, especially the youngsters started switching over to other work.
Significantly, while interacting with the Andharjhor villagers the Deputy Commissioner had tried to understand the economy involved in the instruments-making business and then only he had assured the artisans of the necessary help for its promotion in an effective way.
During the visit, the Deputy Commissioner instructed the block development officer of Bodam to provide Rs 15,000 for the toolkit to each of those interested in resuming the instrument-making business in Andharjhor which is comprised of 70 families.
