Crowd funding to give 36 Mumbai railway stations a makeover

Churchgate station will also get a makeover. Stations will be cleaned and painted. File pic

Come October and 36 suburban railway stations will get a makeover, thanks to crowd funding, assistance from corporate employees, and volunteers. Churchgate and 20 other stations on the western line till Dahisar, and 15 on the Central till Thane, barring CST and Byculla, will undergo changes between October 2 and 8.

Churchgate station will also get a makeover. Stations will be cleaned and painted. File pic

Stations which were adopted by others for beautification on these two corridors have been excluded.

However, no station on the Harbour line has been adopted for this project.

The city's think-tank organisation, Mumbai First, will helm the project in association with a local non-profit organisation, Making a Difference. The two have charted out a 7-day programme in which volunteers, corporate employees, real estate companies and industries will paint the stations with a design based on landmarks in respective localities. Designs based on station-specific themes will be selected through a competition held at city art colleges like the JJ School of Art and Rachna College.

Mumbai First's Chief Executive Officer Shishir Joshi told mid-day on Friday that the project ‘Hamara Station, Hamari Shaan,' was planned in such a way that the commuters would feel the ownership of the stations they use, because they too would be urged to contribute in crowd funding.

"Some stations have already been beautified, but this will be a massive programme to be completed in just six days," he said.

Cleaning and painting
Joshi said corporates, real estate and paint companies, a telecom giant have come forward to contribute to the project, not only financially but also through employees who will be encouraged to play an active role in the project. The employees will work at these stations, cleaning and painting, as per the time off provided by their employers. So far, 3,000 employees and volunteers, including students and citizens have registered to participate, he said. The volunteers will work during non-peak hours in the afternoon and after 9 pm.

A telecom major has agreed to work on a plan to provide Wi-Fi on some stations. Some Catholic groups too have volunteered to help financially and physically.

According to Joshi, each station will need funding of Rs 3 to 5 lakh, of which a significant contribution would also come from crowd funding. The methodology of crowd funding is being finalised and it will be put on the project's website very soon.

Some members of Mumbai First will also adopt the stations and raise funds.

Stations which will get a makeover
21 On the Western line from Churchgate to Dahisar
15 On Central line from CST to Thane
(CST is not included because it's a heritage site. Dadar, Matunga, Byculla, Vidyavihar are with other NGOs).