Rename Mumbai Central, Elphinstone & 3 other stations with colonial names: Shiv Sena
Shiv Sena has demanded the renaming of five suburban railway stations
The Shiv Sena on Tuesday demanded renaming of five suburban railway stations, including Mumbai Central, that still have colonial names.
Shiv Sena member Arvind Sawant said in Lok Sabha that the Mumbai Central railway station should be renamed after Jagannath Shankar Seth for his contribution to the city and the growth of railways in its pioneering years.
Seth is known for his contribution towards the Victoria Terminus station, now known as the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus.
Apart from Mumbai Central, Sawant also demanded Charni Road station be renamed as Girgaum, Elphinstone Road as Prabhadevi, Currey Road as Lalbaug and Sandhurst Road as Dongri.
“Most of these railway stations have colonial names. Currey Road is in Lalbaug, Sandhurst Road is in Dongri, Charni Road is in Girgaum,” Sawant said.
“The addresses and pin codes are identified with Lalbaug, Dongri and Girgaum and not with the names of any of these stations,” he added.
Last year, a new railway station was created on Mumbai’s suburban rail tracks and named ‘Ram Mandir’. The station was being referred to as Oshiwara earlier.
However, following demands from both BJP and Shiv Sena leaders, who wanted the station to be named after the Ram Mandir in the vicinity, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis agreed to the change.
The CM notified railway authorities about the new name on November 25 and the station was inaugurated by Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on December 22.
During the earlier Shiv Sena-BJP regime between 1995 and 1999, Victoria Terminus was rechristened as the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus.
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