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Colouring the town happy

Two city-based NGOs took up the herculean task of cleaning and beautifying Matunga, Sion and King’s Circle railway stations and the results are outstanding

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King's Circle Railway Station
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With an intention of participating in the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Haresh Shah, founder of Making a Difference (M.A.D.) Foundation; along with a few volunteers, adopted a colourful way to clean up certain areas of the city. M.A.D. Foundation started cleaning and then colouring the walls of two suburban railways stations. Shah elaborates, “We started cleaning up Matunga station but soon after, it went back to the way it was—with people spitting, betel-juice stains, etc. So, we thought that if the walls are beautified, people may hesitate to dirty them, and we were proven right as the walls are still beautifully coloured.”

A gargantuan task

It took M.A.D. around 15 days to finish painting Matunga station with the help of 125 volunteers. The theme for this station is based on the seven festivals of India, including Navratri, Holi, Baisakhi, Eid and Christmas. Since Matunga was their first attempt, it took the team this long to complete the task, which was also a great learning experience for them.

On the other hand, King’s Circle and Sion stations took Die Hard Indian (NGO) few months to finish painting. King’s Circle station was cleaned up and painted in four months, with the help of volunteers from Shishuvan School and Smt. MMP Shah College. The NGO plans to take this further but will have to wait as the FOB is being restructured and strengthened presently.

It’s all about being social

Gaurang Damani of  Die Hard Indian shares, “At King’s Circle station, we have created paintings based on the theme of various social messages like ‘keep the city clean’, ‘save water’ and more. At Sion station, apart from incorporating similar social messages, we have also combined Warli art and scenes that are exclusive to Dharavi—its Kumbharwada and Koliwada and also Sion Fort. Mahindra Lifespaces and volunteers from SIES College helped in doing this.”

At Sion station, it took another set of 600 volunteers to clear up the garbage and debris from outside the station, and was replaced with 1,500+ saplings to improve the aesthetic value of the area. Damani concludes, “I would like to say thanks and appreciate all the support given to us by the railway authorities. They have  lent a helping hand throughout this process.”

VOLUNTEER!
Die Hard Indian NGO has begun cleaning up and painting Mahim station and is in need of volunteers. In case you'd like to volunteer for this project, please contact Gaurang Damani at: damanig@diehardindian.com 

Matunga Station:



Sion Station:



 

King's Circle station:

 


 


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