On the road to transition

At a time when public spaces are reducing and those that exist are in deplorable conditions, the group called ‘Adopt-A-Mile Bengaluru’ with more than 300 volunteers have come forward to help reclaim and clean public spaces. They choose the dirtiest of stretches in the City and transform them in a way that people wouldn’t dare to deface them again.

 
Ramachandran A, founder of ‘Adopt-A-Mile Bengaluru’ floated the idea to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) which involve companies adopting a stretch of a road or two and beautifying it by setting right dislodged pavements and repainting defaced walls which are also used as temporary urinals. Talking about the programme, Ramachandran explains, “Some of us thought we should withdraw our right to complain and do our bit to better the City and reclaim the disappearing pavements. This programme gets companies to adopt a mile and take charge of its transformation which include revamping the pavements, painting the walls, building urinals along the stretch to discourage people from using the walls and place dustbins.” Ramachandran states that the work has already begun in several places, “The stretch between RSI and Dickenson Road, complete with dustbins, redone pavements, benches and urinals will be ready by September 15. We have decided to go a step further and employ people to clean these places, on a regular basis, just to ensure that it doesn’t go back to its old state,” he adds.
The companies that are a part of the programme will get to advertise along these stretches. “The companies adopt these stretches on a contract basis. The contract will be renewed after a period of time. There are 19 companies on board and we hope at least 100 more take up stretches by the end of the year,” adds Ramachandran.

The volunteers are people who hold regular jobs but spare some time to be a part of the transformation. Shivaraj D, CEO, Quepreon Biologicals Pvt Ltd confesses that the idea of civilians, government and corporates, coming together to better the City’s landscape impressed him. “I think it’s high time people stopped complaining about the current situation and started initiating a change. It’s easy to complain about the government not doing anything but what are people doing to become  more responsible. This movement is certainly contagious,” he observes.

Mathew Abraham, delivery manager, EMC data storage systems echoes Shivaraj’s views when he says that it is better to be a part of the change rather than complain about nothing being done. “This looks like a practical and sustainable option because it involves doing up only a mile and not a huge stretch. I chose to be a part of this because this is my vision for the City. Everybody likes to live in a clean city but who will take the first step in cleaning it? I think people themselves should take up the responsibility,” he signs off.