BENGALURU: If you have recently visited Yeshvantpur Railway Station, you would have been treated to a brief introduction to the rich heritage of Karnataka. A few parts of the railway station where scrap of locomotives were being stored, have now been converted into a mural art showcase.
The murals showcasing the heritage of Karnataka even caught the attention of Railway Minister Piyush Goyal who took to Twitter to appreciate the effort. Posting some of the pictures, he said, “Celebrating & promoting the rich cultural heritage of Karnataka by making the best out of waste. Indian Railways team skillfully utilised scrap to depict the glorious monuments of the State & created beautiful 3D paintings on boulders at Kempegowda Heritage Garden” (sic).
Vikas Gurwani, coaching depot officer, Yeswanthpur, says the idea was to promote five ‘Ss’– sorting, setting in order, shining, standardisation and sustaintance. “This project comes under the sustainability initiative. The place where we have made the murals was where metal scraps were kept. We got it cleaned and created murals which speak about the flora and fauna of our state,” says Guwani. There are four murals showcasing Mysuru, Aihole-Badami, Belur-Halebidu and Kempegowda, the founder of Bengaluru.
Apart from that, it also showcases a ‘Make in India’ lion made from metal scrap. “We used metal springs and screws along with the scrap to create the figure of a lion. We also have a statue of Swami Vivekananda and humanoids clad with personal protective equipments, to promote safety protocols,” says Gurwani, adding that CP Shridhar, senior section engineer of the depot, is the in-house craftsman who actually turned the scrap around. The entire project took close to one month to complete. While the murals are outside the station, the statues and metal scrap art work are within the premises. They can be viewed by the public.