He says, “I continued writing to local railway authorities but it never helped. But he remained undeterred. I immediately asked for permissions, and three months later, we began working on it.”. It is obviously frustrating to see a few individuals disrupting the collective effort.”However, it wasn’t all that easy. So he resolved to take matters into his own hands. The general perception among citizens is to treat a public space shabbily if it is already unclean. He says, “A lot more people started keeping the station clean.He reveals that it wasn’t difficult to get people together.Gaurang Damani and his organisation adopted the King’s Circle station in Mumbai and painstakingly gave it a facelift with the help of volunteersUntil last year, King’s Circle railway station in Mumbai wore a fatigued look — the walls marred with paan stains, garbage strewn across the platform and dull streetlights flickering at night. I finally met the senior divisional operations manager and he asked me to adopt the China Purification Door Factory station.

He says, “You won’t see people spitting in a mall or a movie theatre.”Once the dustbins were strategically placed across the stations, pamphlets were sent out requesting people to keep the premises clean.”Gaurang, who runs the NGO Karmayogi Pratisthan, got 40 residents together to clean the station. Once the platform was renovated, people consciously didn’t dirty the surroundings. Everybody was forthcoming about keeping the railway station clean. People realise that they play a huge role in keeping the city clean — it isn’t just the local authorities who are responsible. Art students from local colleges lent their creativity on the platform walls.Today, the walls are freshly painted, the station is well lit till dawn and the platforms are cleaner. Gaurang adopted the King’s Circle station in December last year and actively started revamping it this year after the Central Railway authorities were convinced that he was the best man for the job. He says, “I was prepared for this. Gaurang admits that the flowerpots were stolen at times, and the information posters were torn.

“Till date, I have never had to beg people to join the campaign. By January this year, Gaurang collaborated with local schools to paint the outer walls of the King’s Circle railway station.”Gaurang believes that education on cleanliness is key, especially since it isn’t part of the public consciousness. Once we imbibe these qualities, only then will we become more responsible. There is no sense of responsibility towards public property. But unless you consciously educate people about the importance of keeping the surroundings clean, change won’t happen. Local schools came together to run “do not spit/litter” campaigns and fliers were sent out to share the need for cleanliness. There is a sense of decorum attached to these places but you see it happening routinely at public spaces. For instance, people didn’t spit on painted walls that had some art on it.In September 2014, Gaurang Damani decided he had had enough. It is always a challenge to do something new. He kept writing to the local railway authorities but it didn’t prove to be fruitful. And Gaurang admits that the station premise have never been cleaner.

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