PANAJI: The Goa Handicrafts Rural and Small Scale Industries Development Corporation (GHRSSIDC) last year converted one of the department’s four-wheeler tempo into a mobile emporium called the Handimobile and launched it with an aim to sell handicrafts items made of clay, shell, brass, coconut craft, tile art etc. However, the Corporation has failed to earn any profit despite investing a lump sum amount in this project.
“We came up with this unique concept in order to bridge the gap between the local artisans and the tourists so that the handicrafts items could be directly sold to tourists by taking them at events like the International Film Festival of India, Sunburn, Supersonic, religious festivals, arts festivals, sports events, New Year and Christmas parties, etc. But it has proven to be unsuccessful, as the driver of the van was unable to sell the items,” said an official of the Corporation.
He said that the government is paying Rs 40,000 per month to the driver but he is least bothered to put in efforts to sell the handicrafts items and the Corporation management has also failed to encourage and push sales through the handimobile.
As the handimobile has proved to be a failure, it is learnt that for the past many months it has been permanently stationed at the Corporation’s head office located at Neugi Nagar in Panaji.
“An idea was mooted to launch a mobile emporium after the successful launch of mobile fish stalls by the previous state government and initially it did make its presence felt at various tourist spots like Dona Paula and Miramar. In a day, the driver was managing to sell very few items, as he lacked the basic sales skills,” said another senior official of the Corporation. He opined that instead of converting the department’s four-wheeler tempo into a mobile emporium for selling handicrafts, it should have been used for other purposes such as transportation of raw material or handicrafts items across the Corporation’s nine emporiums.
The official further said that the Corporation has now decided to auction the handimobile and instead is planning to buy some other vehicle with better cabin space so that more handicrafts items could be accommodated. “Unless and until we appoint a driver with proper knowledge of handicrafts items and marketing skills, planning of a new handimobile vehicle may not serve the purpose,” he said.