On a damp weekday afternoon, 63-year-old Shaikh Sayyed Nahnu and a group of artisans are sipping tea at a stall near Mantralya. Once done, they’ll head to the first floor of the Maharashtra government’s headquarters, to resume work. Their job involves meticulously threading individual strands of cane into holes located around the frame of the wooden chair. “My job is to oversee the work done by the artisans. I have to run my hand over the chairs and other furniture to understand what is lacking or remains to be done,” he says, having spent decades perfecting the art of chair caning.

Nahnu is visually impaired, and so are 90 per cent members of the Maharashtra Andha Audyogik Utpadak Sahakari Sanstha (Maryadit), a Maharashtra-based cooperative society that provides employment to 217 people. Founded in the city by Nahnu in 1990, the organisation looks after the maintenance job right from re-caning of chairs, furniture, repairing, polishing and even manufacturing new furniture at all state government-run institutions, including the University of Mumbai, BMC, Bombay High Court, sessions court, sales tax, excise and even the police department. Every year, their licence is renewed.