Sohrai and khovar, two dying tribal art forms of the state, have found a new canvas - the boundary wall of Ranchi University near Shaheed Chowk in the capital.
The paintings, with distinctive animal, bird and flower motifs, have been drawn across the one-and-a-half kilometre long and 6ft-high boundary wall of the varsity's administrative block. The eye-catching paintings even carry a message that the Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) had been seeking to propagate among the capital residents: "Keep the city clean."
The civic body had hired a local organisation - Adarsh Gram Sansthan - whose artistes started painting the walls from June 14 and finished them within two weeks. The drive was undertaken under the Information Education Communication (IEC) activities of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
"Our main aim is to keep boundary walls of government, administrative and other important buildings neat and clean. The city will look beautiful that way," said additional municipal commissioner of RMC Bidya Nand Sharma Pankaj.
The civic body will also paint the defaced boundary wall opposite the chief minister's official residence on Kanke Road soon. RMC will also repaint the 1km-long boundary wall of Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) office near Jail More, which was painted last year by a group of NCC cadets but now it has been defaced and turned into a public toilet with men often urinating against the wall. This apart, the wall around AG office in Doranda will also adorn the ethnic makeover.
"We will start the work soon. A sense of responsibility should be there in every individual as we do not have any mechanism to keep our painted walls clean," said Pankaj.
Residents also said that community participation was important to keep the city clean. "Community participation should be there to keep our city clean as it is not the government's responsibility only. The civic body has taken up responsibility to clean the capital. We want to maintain it by generating awareness through rallies and nukkad nataks," said Ritu Saxena, who is associated with local theatre groups.
