kolkata the desire of a young it executive to extend a helping hand to girls vulnerable to human trafficking in the dooars has started to pay off in the form of bamboo craft products that are being sold at the handicraft fair though a small beginning it has already paved the way for the likes of pratibha lakra prityaka minz karuna xalxo or pratibha minz to stay away from agents who traffic young daughters of tea garden labourers if you come across a bespectacled softspoken youth at the stall named jiban do not mistake him for a salesman subhadip mukherjee is an advisory system analyst with ibm kolkata to accomplish his mission to save girls in the dooars from traffickers he had to undertake few trips to the tea gardens over the last few months and now he is helping in marketing the products made by the young girls the it executives journey started about seven months ago after he came across a toi report on girls going missing from the tea gardens deeply moved by the plight of the vulnerable girls sudhadip visited some tea gardens to find out the ground reality determined to do his bit he hired a professional bamboo craft artist from kolkata to train girls of saithgiya and chalsa tea gardens employing them was a way from preventing them from falling prey to traffickers after training them in bamboo craft my concern was to market those products so that they get a certain return else the whole purpose would be defeated so i am here to sell the products subhadip said from jiban inspired by subhadips effort his friends tanmay sarkar joydip sau arnab jyotu sarkar basubhadra joydeep mukherjee swapan jash soumik and tamnay biswas chipped in they not only pulled in fund for the training and material but also provided moral support whenever subhadip was apprehensive about his plans in october madhuri kudaravalli who works for microsoft in seattle had sold some of the pine wood bangles created by the girls and in november another friend sudeepta ray who works for lexmark exhibited some products at her office if it was not for helps and suggestions from friends it would have been difficult for me said subhadip subhadip is now planning to widen the marketing channel including hitting the online portals so that the girls get a steady income every month currently 20 girls and five boys in chalsa are the direct beneficiaries many tea gardens in the dooars are either closed or on the verge of a closure agents are seizing the opportunity and luring away teenage girls and even boys to cities like delhi with job promises many of them never return home and there whereabouts are unknown if people like subhadipda come down here with such noble mission it will save the young population of the tea gardens said asish minz who is manning the stall at the craft exhibition