Bringing cheer to railway stations

KOCHI: A clean and pristine place elicits positivity. This is the message the students under the institutions run by the Al Ameen Education Trust want to spread as a part of their social awareness campaign.
 This academic year, the campaign took off with a beautification drive targeting the railway stations in the district. "The trust approached the Thiruvananthapuram Divisional Railway Manager and proposed to carry out a beautification drive at the railway stations in the district.

The DRM agreed and the trust has been given the permission to beautify the concourse and the walls of buildings on platform 1 of the Ernakulam Town Railway Station," said R Harikrishnan, Ernakulam Station Director. "All the works are being done as a part of the station beautification project launched by the Southern Railway," he said. 

The Ernakulam Town Railway Station today sports murals on the walls of platform 1.
"The students belonging to the NSS unit of Al Ameen College, Edathala, undertook the project at Ernakulam Town Railway Station. They recreated images of historically-important places and buildings," said Sasidharan M B, principal, Al Ameen College, Edathala. 

Among the paintings, the prominent are of the ones on Sree Poornathrayeesa Temple, the koothamabalam at Tripunithura, the Goshree bridge, the Kalikotta Palace, Chinese fishing net and Thuruthy Juma Masjid.
"The aim of the project, launched every academic year, is to instil social values in students. The students need to interact with people and understand the importance of preserving our heritage," said the principal.
 According to him, they decided to take up beautification of the railway stations since these places host a large number of people.

"Railway stations are very filthy. Dirt-splattered walls and weed-covered platforms give these places an ominous look. They even turn into a haven for the anti-social elements. So, once the negative factor is removed, the places achieve brightness and our students with the help of their instructors are striving to achieve this," he said.