MURALS TO BEAUTIFY CITY WITH MESSAGES

ARINDAM GANGULY, OP
Bhubaneswar: The artists of Bakul Foundation have collaborated with BSCL and UNFPA to paint the walls of the Shanti Nagar slum area near Mali Sahi with messages such as cleanliness and child labour. Sarojini Brahma, Gender Specialist of Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL), said that to communicate important social messages through paintings and the written word the BSCL and Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation have started using the walls of the city slums.
Earlier, we had done similar work on Telugu Basti in Saheed Nagar to spread the message of cleanliness and gender equality, she said “Activating the unused space at slum area, BSCL under the Socially Smart Bhubaneswar initiative has created several murals in collaboration with the city -based artists. The murals will also have social awareness messages added to them in the upcoming days” she added. In the Shanti Nagar area, Bakul Foundation artists have turned 4000 sq ft area which was an open defecation ground until recently
into a small playground, thanks to the wall painting. Pinaki Mohanty, an artist and a
member of Bakul Foundation, who along with other 50 members has done this wall painting in seven days. The Smart City Initiative will not be possible if every member is not part of the planning. Under this initiative, we had painted walls based on the theme of cleanliness, women empowerment, gender equality and child labour, Pinaki said.

Sujit Mohapatra of Bakul Foundation said young children of Shanti Nagar Basti had cleaned up a 4,000 sqft area that was earlier used for open defecation. They had cleaned up the space and are now using it as a playground. Sujit said that the wall painting is a unique medium to showcase the valid and important messages. Earlier, we have taken up an initiative to beautify Bhubaneswar railway station, Jaydev Vihar, Rajmahal Square, Acharya Vihar and Vani Vihar and transformed them into ‘art places,’ to bring about a positive result, Sujit said.

Asked how long this beautification work would last, he said, “we see some people urinating on them! We can’t change the habits of people overnight.” Sarojini said that the BSCL, in collaboration with the United
Nations Population Fund, has taken up the Socially Smart Bhubaneswar initiative to empower adolescent
girls, women and students for a better society. At present, we are conducting selfdefence training at 24 slums under Bhubaneswar Town District Centre (BTCD), she said. We are also in talks with Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation about adding other slums in the wall painting initiative, she added.

The locals are welcoming the initiative and want such initiative more often. Manorama Sahoo, a resident of Shanti Nagar area, said the area was earlier used for open defecation but now with murals, the place has turned into a nice place where our children could play