Shreya Bothra (on PM's left) and others at the felicitation

Samriddhi Welfare Society, Aligarh, a multi-faceted social organisation spearheaded by women with Shreya Bothra as President, was recently felicitated by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for their outstanding work in the Clean Aligarh campaign, particularly the initiative for transforming Aligarh Railway Station. The project was also mentioned by the PM in his Mann ki Baat address on National TV and radio.

Shreya is the daughter of Renukaben and Mahendra Ratilal Mehta from Palanpur, who are now settled in Mumbai.

Aligarh Station after the beautification

Reports of the good work being done by the women had reached the PM’s Office through the Aligarh MP Shri Satish Gautam. On hearing of the dynamic involvement of a group of women and artists and their contribution towards the success of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Shri Modi invited them for a personal felicitation. He is reported to have congratulated the group and said, "Phir toh aapko Banaras bulana padega (We'll have to call you to Banaras)."

Samriddhi as set up in 2010 and has taken up a variety of community projects such as ‘Beat the Heat’ where pedestrians are served fresh home made cool drinks to  provide relief from the scorching heat;  ‘Let’s Grow O2’, an endeavour to manage waste sensibly and reduce use of plastic; as well as Seminars & Workshops for youth and children.

A vertical garden

This year, the group, inspired by the Swacch Bharat Abhiyan and its call for a Sundar Bharat, decided to take up a project for the beautification of Aligarh Railway Station. For 15 days during the month of June, they brought together 35 artists from different fine arts colleges of Aligarh.

Together with Samriddhi members they cleaned and beautified the station premises with rich colours, attractive graphics and elegantly painted social messages. Recycling plastic, they transformed old bottles into pots for bonsai plants, one of which was even gifted to the PM. A special Vertical Garden comprising plants potted in plastic was also set up at the Railway station as part of this drive.

"People get the first impression of a city by judging its railway stations. That's the reason we decided to give Aligarh station a facelift," Shreya Bothra told the media.

She added, "We were inspired by Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. We decided to go a step ahead by trying to make this country a 'sundar Bharat'. If we see something beautiful, we like to keep it clean. Driven by that logic, we decided to give a colourful flourish to the city."