Mumbai: The birthday of Mahatma Gandhi on October 2 was observed with thousands of volunteers participating in cleanliness drives across the city even as a week-long drive to beautify 36 Mumbai suburban railway stations was kicked off today.
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu along with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis inaugurated the “Hamara Station Hamari Shaan” (Our station, our pride) beautification programme at Bandra station. Also present were BJP Mumbai President Ashish Shelar, National Secretary Poonam Mahajan and actor Anil Kapoor.
In collaboration with Western and Central Railway, two NGOs Mumbai First and Making a Difference (MAD), have come together to beautify the 36 stations with murals and artworks, an initiative that is 100 per cent volunteer driven. Entire railway station premises including staircases, foot over bridges (FOBs), booking windows and areas adjoining entrances, signages and platforms will get a makeover. Volunteers will scrub, clean and then paint the station premises with soothing colours and scenic themes that will resonate the surrounding geography and distinctiveness of the station.
From October 2-8, 21 stations on the Western suburban rail network from Churchgate-Borivili and 15 stations on Central Railway network Masjid Bunder to Thane will get a facelift.
Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), the main terminus of the Central Railway, is an iconic and historic building that has come under the list of Unesco World Heritage Sites and used by over 500,000 commuters daily. By evening, with multi-coloured lighting, it truly stands out as a beautiful structure. However, Bollywood actor, participating in a cleanliness campaign of a TV channel, NDTV, said, “Beautifully lit, CST looks good from the outside but we have to make sure it is good inside too.”
He added that people should come out of their “mindset” that it is not their job to keep the city clean. People should realise “every inch of this country belongs to them and as a patriotic Indian, you have to keep it clean.”
The railway minister, too, appealed to commuters to co-operate and keep the trains and stations clean. It is not just the railways’ responsibility to ensure cleanliness but people, too, have to say, “I will not keep it unclean.”
One of the main headaches of the railways is how to solve the problem of sewage waste that is ejected from the toilets on to the tracks at the railway stations and then on the tracks when trains are running. Prabhu said railways are striving to have bio toilets on trains on the green corridor.
Gandhi’s birth anniversary is observed as Swachhata Diwas or Cleanliness Day as the Mahatma insisted on individual and community cleanliness and hygiene throughout his life. The day is also commemorated as the International Day of Non-Violence, after the United Nations voted in 2007 to honour this day to spread the message of non-violence.
