Two Maharashtra stations wins top honours in beautification contest
Maharashtra’s Ballarshah and Chandrapur railway stations have been adjudged winners of the Indian Railways’ in-house station beautification contest.
The Nagpur Division of Central Railway has beautified the two stations with paintings, sculptures and murals based on wildlife at the Tadoda National Park and local tribal art. The second prize has gone to Bihar’s Madhubani station, which features stunning artwork by local artists, and Tamil Nadu’s Madurai station, which also depicts popular scenes from local culture on its walls.
The third prize has gone jointly to three stations – Gandhidham in Gujarat, Kota in Rajasthan and Secunderabad in Telangana.
The first prize winners will get Rs 10 lakh each, second prize winners Rs 5 lakh each and the third prize winners Rs 3 lakh each. A total of 62 entries from across 11 railway zones were received by the Railway Board for the best stations where beautification work had been done by local artistes. A committee of senior officials reviewed the entries and chose the winners.
A committee consisting of Executive Directors (EDs) of station development, passenger, marketing, tourism and other departments judged the entries on various parameters, he said, adding that the idea behind holding such a contest was to make railway stations look more beautiful. He said Ballarshah and Chandrapur railway stations were decorated with paintings and sculptures depicting the Tadoba forest, “which was welcomed by the passengers who had a feel of the rich wildlife beauty of the Tadoba Forest in the station itself”.
The idea behind the beautification project is to make railway stations look more inviting and attractive. In many zones, schoolchildren, local NGOs and even corporate houses came forward to paint them, donate paintings or sponsor particular sites for beautification.
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