Bengaluru: Around 150 employees of a multinational company, collaborating with the Bengaluru North City Corporation, spent Thursday afternoon cleaning and painting the walls of the Judicial Layout railway underpass in north Bengaluru as part of a special beautification drive under the corporation’s Safe Footpaths campaign.Led by Arun Pai of Project Walkaluru, the volunteers painted the underpass in various shades of green to reflect the character of the area, which is surrounded by the GKVK campus and greenery off Airport Road.“We had great fun painting the walls with our colleagues. There is already a visible difference in the look of the underpass. It gives us great satisfaction to have contributed to the city’s beautification,” a volunteer told TOI.Yelahanka MLA SR Vishwanath and BNCC commissioner Pommala Sunil Kumar also joined the volunteers, donning aprons and picking up rollers to paint the walls.Explaining the design chosen for the underpass walls, design consultant Aniruddha Abhyankar said horizontal lines helped drivers understand perspective better while creating a sense of discipline and predictability.“This makes the design less chaotic and safer for vehicular movement. The repetitive pattern also gives the public space a distinct identity. The BNCC logos give the space an official character and may discourage people from putting up posters,” he said.“The colour schemes have also been chosen contextually — green for the Judicial Layout stretch to blend with the surrounding parks and greenery,” Abhyankar added.According to BNCC, similar initiatives will continue across its limits to create pedestrian-friendly infrastructure and provide citizens with a safe, clean, and accessible urban environment.Vishwanath said the participation of volunteers created a sense of belongingness to public spaces. “Usually, we see posters being pasted on such walls. When people see volunteers painting the walls with dedication, they may hesitate to deface them,” he said. He also lauded Pai for spearheading the cause of walkability even before the government took it up on a larger scale.Sunil Kumar said public participation was essential for the success of such programmes and for building a better urban environment. “With the active involvement of volunteers, Arun Pai and corporation staff, we have been taking up the cleaning of blackspots, footpath improvement and encroachment clearance for the past eight months to improve walkability,” he said.
