VISAKHAPATNAM: THE big plan of District Rural Development Authority (DRDA) to sell Etikoppaka toys, Bobbili Veena and wrought Iron decors made by tribals though the e-commerce major Flipkart hang fire, with the authorities failing to submit the mandatory documents such as PAN,TAN and TIN in time.
After it consulted several online agencies like Naaptol, Flipkart, Amazon and etc for the purpose, the District Rural Development Authority (DRDA) signed an MoU with Flipkart. It planned to set up three storage points for the products in the city and procured huge quantity of the products. The authorities also roped in the Zilla Mahila Samakhya for which a separate business house was set up in the name of ‘Swayam Sahayaka Sanghala Samkshema Sangham (SSSSS).
In the march last week, the DRDA authorities went gaga over the proposal and said that the online sale of the products would start on April 8, coincing with the Ugadi.
The authorities also had said that 36 varieties of Etikoppaka toys and four varieties of Bobbili Veena worth `1 crore would go for the online sale in the phase-I and the DRDA was aiming at a `5-crore business this fiscal year.
However, before drawing the big plan, the DRDA seemed to have taken a little care to the mandatory paperworks associated with the online sell. Going by the norms, the officials must submit several documents including TIN, TAN and PAN details to the marketing agency which is yet to be done.
Meanwhile, the Krishna district DRDA, which floated a similar proposal of selling Kodapalli toys online, has successfully completed the procedures and the online sale has been started. With the DRDA project being delayed in Visakhapatnam district, the Mahila Samakhya members are blaming the officials.”We do not have any idea about the administrative procedures. The officials should have completed the same before drawing such big plans. However, they have applied for the TIN, TAN and PAN cards recently,” a member of Mahila Samakhya lamented.
There are about 150 families who are continuing their family profession of making Etikoppaka toys. But owing to lack of promotion and marketing facilities, the business is fast losing sheen. Asked about the delay, administrative assistant and in-charge of computer wing of DRDA, U Jagan said they were awaiting for the documentation to be completed. “The TIN and TAN certification have been obtained. Once the PAN card is received, we will submit them to the marketing agency,” he said. DRDA project director was not available for the comment as he is on a leave.
Big plans