Mumbai's new railway station in Oshiwara to be named 'Ram Mandir'

lsquoRam Mandirrsquo will be the 37th station on the Western line PicSayyed Sameer AbediThe saffron brigade has had its way with renaming another station in the city The newly built one between Jogeshwari and Goregaon that was to be named Oshiwara following the tradition that all other stations in the city are named by will now be Ram Mandir Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis showed the green flag to the name yesterday after months of lsquopetitionsrsquo by the BJP and Shiv SenaThe CM confirmed to midday about the change of name Senior railway officials said the CMO approved it yesterday The notification from the state government says ldquoThe GoM is pleased to direct the name of the proposed station between JogeshwariGoregaon stations of Western Railway will be Ram MandirrdquoLocality or templemidday had reported on June 1 and November 23 about how politicians wanted the station to be named Ram Mandir The name had remained a bone of contention for too long While politicians wanted to name it Ram Mandir after a temple in the area Sources said they wanted to name it as Oshiwara as the area the station is located in has the same name as well as for a river by the same name in the vicinityTemple it isBut on the other hand local politician Vidya Thakur an MLA from Goregaon and Minister of State for Women and Child Development Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Food and Drugs Administration had said the station should be Ram Mandir as a temple for Lord Ram is in the vicinityOn November 15 Thakur had also written a letter to the CM asking him to take a decision and direct the Home Ministry ldquoWe want it to be named as Ram Mandir station as it is the demand of the localsrdquo said Ashish Shelar city BJP chiefWait a little longerWhile the politics of naming the station has finally died down it will still take at least a week to be functional as the inauguration has been pushed back Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu was supposed to inaugurate it on November 27 but it has now been postponed However another date has not been announced yetRailway officials say that naming of any station is a state subject which is then sent to the Home Ministry ldquoThe station is ready But since its name has been decided at the last minute it shall undergo a process Hence the inauguration has also been delayedrdquo said a WR officialWhat nextNow the Surveyor General of India will decide the spelling of the new name after which the Indian Railways will allot it a station code thereafter local authorities will add it to the ticketing units and train schedules and finish other formalities This would take at least a weekMeanwhile railway officialsrsquo claim that based on the projected demand at this station they have made arrangements Local trains will get a 1015 second halt at the Ram Mandir station once operations begin The authorities will also tweak the timetable though a 30second buffer has been kept between two trainsThe railways will add 36 services to accommodate the new station allowing around two lakh commuters on the GoregaonAndheri belt with ease of travel Till yesterday WR authorities had installed indicators platform numbers granite seats and a roof over the platformsSuperficialldquoChanging a name is merely superficial and authorities cannot get away by naming it after a god Commuters want the station to serve them with adequate facilities and ease for travelrdquo said Subhash Gupta president Rail Yatri SanghIs Dadar nextDemands have been made to change names of other stations from the ones given by the Brits like Dadar to Chaityabhoomi station and Elphinstone Road to Prabhadevi Nearly two decades ago the name of Victoria Terminus was changed to Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus