Potters' kulhars of woes

Darpan Singh, Agra

Nearly four years ago, when Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav issued instructions making use of Kulhars mandatory for serving tea and coffee in pantry cars and railway stalls, the impoverished potter community, facing an uncertain future with dwindling demands for their traditional craft, was ecstatic. But as they failed to benefit from the much-hyped announcement over the years, a sense of disappointment has replaced the euphoria.

Ramesh (60), a potter at Agra, said, “I frantically tried to contact the officials of the Agra Rail Division seeking to supply kulhars, but nobody is willing to entertain me. I have given up.” Ramesh is not the sole instance. Many others like him faced the same situation as they are required to have a PAN card and a current account in a nationalised bank to be able to make supplies to the Railways — criteria not many poor potters can meet. The Railways makes payment through cheques after deducting 2 per cent tax and 12 per cent surcharge on the total tender value directly to the supplier's bank account number. Caught in a red tape, the whole scheme has come a cropper.

A visit to different railway stations under the Agra Rail Division revealed that vendors were using ‘kulhars' only as a show piece', selling tea either in paper or plastic cups. Sumit Kumar, a vendor, said selling tea in kulhars cost more, much to the dislike of customers. He said many customers did not want to have tea in `kulhars' on hygiene Grounds and added many people disliked drinking tea in `kulhars' out of prestige and insisted on paper cups. Said a passenger, “It's not easy to drink from earthen pots, mainly because companies have not been advertising that way.”

Admitting lapses at some places, a railway official said more focused efforts were needed to popularise `kulhars'. He said while the licensed vendors more or less stuck to `kulhars', unauthorised vendors were the main defaulters. This, despite the fact that railway laws recommend a fine ranging from Rs 100 to Rs 500 to any licensed vendor selling tea in containers other than `kulhars.' Though the DRM could not be contacted, Rail Division PRO Bhupendra Dhillon Told HT on Saturday, “I cannot say anything on the supply of kulhars as the process is managed by the Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) and the rail division has nothing to do with it.” No IRCTC official was available for comment.

The Agra Rail Division needs lakhs of kulhars a month but it ends up using only a few thousands as vendors continue to use plastic cups. There is no increase in demand for them as plastic or paper cups are available in plenty at cheaper rates. Since the demand for kulhars had been dwindling for quite some time, potters depend on the sale of earthen pitchers and flower pots for livelihood. They had hoped that the big demand generated by the railways would tremendously boost sales of their wares, but to no avail.

Another potter, Jayanti (25), said, “When we informed the officials that we did not have a PAN card, we were told to contact middlemen so that we could supply through them.” Potters here feel that the announcement was mere an eyewash, meant only to benefit big traders and middlemen. Making matters worse is the widespread ignorance. A number of potters HT spoke to said, “We do not know whom to approach to make supply.” They feel that Lalu’s instructions were actually implemented — part of the reason why their sale failed to pick up. Even as there has been hardly any increase kullhar prices, scarcity of soil and fuel has only added to their woes.