Mumbai: 5,000 volunteers to paint railway stations with murals

A rough sketch of Khau galli that will be depicted on station walls.

This Sunday, October 2, thousands of Mumbaikars will be lining up at the city's railway stations, not to catch the next train, but to paint the railway premises. Touted to be the city's biggest beautification drive till date, the initiative titled Hamara Station Hamari Shaan, will go on till October 8 and 36 stations on the Central and Western Lines will be beautified. The project has been jointly undertaken by Mumbai-based NGO 'Making A Difference' (MAD) and Mumbai First, a think-tank that works for the betterment of the city, in collaboration with the Railways.

The visual theme of each station between Thane and CST on the Central Line and Dahisar and Churchgate on the Western Line, has been designed to suit the character of the place. While heritage station buildings like Bandra and CST won't be painted, with operations largely concentrating on cleaning up the premises only, stations like Marine Lines and Charni Road station, owing to their proximity to the sea, will be painted in aqua blue. The murals, vinyl sheet decorations and the paintings will cover the walls on the platforms, the panels alongside the staircases, ticket windows and the walls on the foot over bridge. Each station has been allocated a budget of between Rs 2-5 lakh, entirely funded by corporate sponsors and volunteers.

Around 5,000 volunteers have registered for the project so far and the organisers expect the numbers to go up on Sunday. The project will require volunteers to work from 12pm to 4pm and from 9pm to midnight, through the week. Speaking of the initiative, project leader of Ghatkopar station, Ashok Patel, a third year engineering student from KJ Somaiya College and a member of MAD foundation said, "This project is part of the Joy of Giving week and it is a 100 per cent volunteer-driven initiative. The aim is to make people understand that the stations are our property, so we need to do our bit for their upkeep. For Ghatkopar, we have about 265 volunteers from our college alone. There is a dedicated art team that will guide the volunteers and includes a few trained painters too. There is no age limit. From 6-year-olds to senior citizens, we have received applications from all."

The event has been gaining traction with several groups promoting it heavily over the last week, through a bike rally, a flash mob at Churchgate Station and a musical performance at Vile Parle Station. Talking about the visual plan for Ghatkopar, Ashok said, "We'll be working to beautify three foot-over-bridges and 21 staircases in the station. One of the biggest draws of this neighbourhood is its khau galli, so we are going depict that on the foot-over-bridge walls and staircase panels. Also, Ghatkopar primarily has a Gujarati population, so we'll be working with garba motifs, depicting the musical culture of the state. We are also going to colour the staircase in piano patterns."