HamarastationHamarishaan

Colorful Commute

Colourful  Commute

Termed as one of the biggest beautification drives, over 5,000 volunteers symbolically launched Hamara Station Hamari Shaan , a citizen-driven initiative to beautify 36 railway stations of Mumbai. Mumbai First and Making A Difference Foundation (M.A.D) have partnered with the Central and Western Railway for this project. From Churchgate to Dahisar and from Masjid Bunder to Thane, all stations would be beautified during this initiative. On western line there are 21 stations which would be beautified. On the Central line there would be 15 stations taking the total to 36..

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Suresh Prabhu ( minister of railways) and actor Anil Kapoor along with MP Poonam Mahajan picked up the paint brush  and symbolically launched the campaign.

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 will not be painted, 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.

Interestingly several other measures were announced ahead of the civic polls to be held in Februray 2017.Fadnavis  announced PM Narendra Modi will launch the elevated corridor between Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) and Panvel and Bandra-Virar fast corridor during his visit to the city next month.

He also announced a single electronic mobile ticket for all public transport, offering respite to Mumbaiites, who spend at least an hour commuting to work.

 “We will launch the construction of CST-Panvel and Bandra-Virar elevated corridor at the hands of PM Modi. Currently, the suburban railway carries 70 lakh passengers. With the elevated corridor and metro network spanning over 117km, we would be able to mobilise another 80 lakh passengers daily,” said Fadnavis.

“The electronic ticketing app will help commuters access all kinds of public transport.

 With more than 1 crore daily passengers (75 lakh on CR and WR, and 30 lakh on BEST buses), the city’s public transport is the biggest platform to reach out to people ahead of civic polls. Moreover, the Andheri-Ghatkopar Metro and Chembur to Bhakti-Park monorail cater to three lakh passengers daily.

Shishir Joshi, the CEO of Mumbai First, announced the ‘Hamara Station, Hamari Shaan,’ project and said the program was planned in such a manner that even the daily passengers would feel these stations belong to them, as they would also take part in these beautification project. He said, “Some stations have already been beautified, but this will be a massive programme to be completed in just six days.”

Anil Kapoor said he loved local train travel and recalled memories of train journeys from Chembur to Bandra. “Recently I travelled by a local train I found stations so clean and trains so efficient and on time.”

Entertainment network Viacom18 in collaboration with NGO Mumbai First has adopted three suburban railway stations for cleanliness and beautification as part of the Central Government’s ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’. Under the Viacom18’s flagship CSR programme ‘Chakachak Mumbai’ (clean and shining Mumbai), the company will support beautification of Andheri, Vile Parle and Ghatkopar stations with the help of volunteers throughout the week.