Jharkhand’s tribal Sohrai paintings to adorn trains, PMSAY houses

After trains in Bihar were painted in Madhubani art, now Sohrai paintings from Jharkhand are all set to adorn trains running from Jharkhand. The development came after railway board chairman Ashiwni Lohani accepted a proposal by Jamshedpur MP Bidyut Baran Mahato to decorate trains with the local art.

Union urban development (UDD) ministry also appreciated Jharkhand’s initiative to decorate the walls of houses being built under Pradhan Mantri Shahri Awas Yojna (PMSAY) with Sohrai paintings, officials said.

“I had requested the railway board chairman to adorn some of the trains originating from Jharkhand with Sohrai paintings to showcase the traditional local art and culture just as the railways had done with the coaches of Darbangha-New Delhi Sampark Kranti Express by painting it with Madhubani art from Bihar. He has accepted my proposal and sought South Eastern Railway’s opinion,” Mahato said.

Sohrai paintings are age-old tribal traditional paintings based on nature themes – forest, people and animals etc. The paintings are done by tribal women using natural ingredients such as different shades of clay and charcoal. Earlier, tribal women used Miswak (datuns) to paint the walls of their house with this traditional art, but now they are also using paint brush.

“I have suggested SE Railway authorities to start by painting at least one-long distance train originating from Jamshedpur with Sohrai paintings. This will help people of other states to know about Jharkhand’s arts and culture and lifestyle of local people here. Sohrai paintings is based on nature and world knows people of Jharkhand as worshippers of nature,” said Mahato, adding that he would soon meet rail minister Piyush Goel in this regard.

Interestingly, the railways have already decorated several stations under Chakradharpur division with Sohrai paintings.

State urban department director (PMSAY housing) Ashsish Singhmar said that Union urban development ministry has appreciated Jharkhand’s initiative to adorn the walls of all houses being built under PMSAY across the state as best practices category.

“The Union UDD ministry has written to all the states to adopt the initiative and showcase their respective local arts and cultural heritage by similar paintings on PMSAY houses. We are beautifying the walls of PMSAY houses in which Centre is providing subsidy of Rs 1.50 lakh and state government Rs 75, 000. Building about 1 lakh such houses is our target, of which, 33, 000 have already been built while 45, 000 are presently under construction,” said Singhmar.

First Published: Sep 27, 2018 16:17 IST