Mahoba: The small diesel workshop farmers rely on when tractors fail

In Natrada village, near Panwari in Mahoba district, a modest roadside workshop has become a practical stop for farmers and drivers who cannot afford long delays when a vehicle breaks down. The shop, KP Diesel Service, handles tractor repairs and routine servicing, as well as diesel pumps, nozzle-injectors, and brake work. On busy days, it also takes in water pumps and other four-wheeler jobs that come from the same stretch of road traffic.

The workshop is run by Chandrashekhar, who resides in Natrada village. He describes the work in plain terms: when a tractor loses pulling power, starts giving black smoke, or stops delivering mileage, the fault has to be found quickly and fixed with the right tools, not guesswork.

A workshop close to fields

In this part of Bundelkhand, tractors are not just machines; they are daily infrastructure. Chandrashekhar says that earlier, many farmers would travel far for repair work, sometimes close to a hundred kilometres, and the trip would cost them time they could not spare. A repair could stretch into two or three days, especially when a part had to be arranged, or the vehicle had to wait its turn.

He chose his current location with that routine in mind. The workshop now serves customers from roughly a 20–30 kilometre radius, and he says many jobs can be wrapped up within a few hours. For a farmer trying to return to the field before the day ends, the difference matters.

Learning on borrowed time

Chandrashekhar did not enter the trade through a formal course. He left his studies around 2010, turning to people he trusted for direction. An uncle, who has run a workshop in Naugaon for decades, became his teacher. Chandrashekhar recalls spending four to five years learning the work there, watching repairs from close range, and slowly taking on tasks himself.

He also speaks of an early familiarity with engines at home. Tractors and pumps were part of the household routine, and he would often accompany his father, helping with small repairs. Over time, that interest hardened into skill, and then into a livelihood. He mentions that he has been working in the trade for around 15 years, despite opening his current shop recently. 

New tools, steadier days

For a long time, he says, limited equipment kept the work slow and the earnings uncertain. He began looking for support when it became clear that older machines were restricting what he could take on. Through a friend and local contacts, he applied for the Mukhyamantri Yuva Udyami Vikas Abhiyan (CM YUVA) Yojana, and received funds to upgrade his equipment, including a tractor-related purchase and a new machine, which he says was completed recently.

With better tools, he says, customers have grown beyond farmers alone, bringing in more road-traffic repairs as well. “Earlier, I didn’t enjoy the work, because I didn’t have good machines,” he says, adding that the new setup has made the pace of the shop feel more stable.

According to Chandrashekhar, this shift is not a dramatic transformation, but a steadying of daily life: fewer jobs turned away, fewer delays caused by missing equipment, and a workshop that now feels capable of meeting the needs of its customers.