Tired of stumbling on garbage and cracks on the way to work, Andheri office-goers transform the area outside their building with a clean-up and sapling plantation drive
As many as 200 office workers stepped out to clear out the refuse, plant saplings and paint the walls along the road. Pics/Datta Kumbhar
For the first time ever, pedestrians walking near the Saki Naka don't have to pinch their nose shut, or dodge piles of garbage and puddly potholes on Andheri-Kurla Road. All it took was a little effort and enthusiasm by one company and its employees, who stepped up and did what the BMC could not do despite a year of requests and follow-ups.
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The 100 to 250-metre stretch of the footpath and road outside Chibber House had long been an eyesore for officegoers headed inside or pedestrians walking past the building. The street was overrun with cracks and garbage, while the walls were lined with graffiti, and the railings and paver blocks on the pavement were broken.
Transformation Thursday
But over the past two weeks, the area has transformed. Suddenly, the filth on the road and footpath has disappeared, and instead the stretch is lined with lush green plants — 360 of them. The graffiti on the walls has been replaced by a barakhadi mural with the Marathi alphabet, so passing schoolchildren can read it. Part of the wall has also been turned into a massive blackboard for kids to doddle on.
This change is the result of an initiative led by Lodestar UM, a media buying and planning agency that moved to Chibber House from Lower Parel a year ago. Nandini Dias, CEO of the company, said, "We shifted here around a year ago. Since then, we have observed that the road and footpath outside was in bad shape. For the past year, we have been following up with BMC, but nothing changed. We thought, as citizens, we can also do the work. So, we approached the BMC two months ago, seeking permission to do the work ourselves."
On Thursday, around 200 officegoers — 180 from Lodestar UM, along with 20-25 employees from Initiative and Rapport — cleared out the last of the garbage from the street. The volunteers cleaned up a whopping 300 kg of trash from the area.
"We cleaned the trash and washed the road. In order to prevent garbage from accumulating there again, we distributed 10 huge garbage bins to nearby societies and have coordinated with the BMC for regular collection of garbage," added Dias.
The company managed to repair a portion of the road as well, and has pledged to mend the remaining stretch and fix the broken railings and footpath once the monsoon ends. In order to prevent any encroachment, a total of 120 plant pots — with three saplings each — have been kept on the footpath. The employees have pledged to take care of the plants.
The agency began the work around 10 days ago, after receiving the go-ahead from the civic body and the local police station. Deepak Netram , senior vice president of the company, said, "The condition of the footpath and the garbage outside our office was a major inconvenience to everyone. It is satisfying to know that our work will benefit the society at large."
mid-day made several attempts to contact Ajitkumar Ambi, assistant municipal commissioner of L-ward, but he remained unavailable for comment.
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