Mumbai: After Asalpha village, Khar Danda to be beautified

After colouring the walls of Asalpha village for making it a tourist attraction, the members of Chal Rang De, a non-profit organisation, have now started a similar initiative in Khar Danda.

More than 6,000 citizens have volunteered to participate in the initiative, which started on May 12. The beautification artwork is scheduled to finish in atleast a week. The members, along with the volunteers, will be painting the walls and roofs of the houses to change the way people look at the island city and its slums.

"After beautifying Asalpha village, we received requests from all over the country and even from other countries. Few residents of Khar introduced us to this area. There are a lot of flights taking off from the city. By beautifying it, people can see different colours from the sky. This will highlight the beauty of our city. Mumbai is going to have a slum with sustainable roofing with a blanket of colours for the first time ever," said Dedeepya Reddy, co-founder of Chal Rang De.

Besides colouring the wall, which will represent the tradition and culture of the fishing community residing in the Khar Danda, they will also be installing sustainable roofing in more than 400 houses.

Sumitro Sircar, a member of the organisation, said, "We will be changing how the slums look from the sky. Sustainable roofing, which is durable and reduces indoor temperatures by 3-4 degrees, will be installed in houses."

Terence Ferreira, another co-founder, said, "The main aim of our projects is to make sure the space resonates with its people through the art on the walls and their surroundings. Promoting cleanliness has become one of our priorities, too. We want to motivate the locals for keeping their surroundings as clean as possible. We will be installing colourful bins in and around the slum area in the hopes that they themselves will realize the importance of cleanliness."