Maha govt has given in-principle nod to rename eight stations in Mumbai MP Shewale

Mumbai, Mar 12 (PTI) Shiv Sena MP Rahul Shewale on Tuesday claimed that the Maharashtra government has given in-principle approval to his proposal to change the British-era names of eight local railway stations in Mumbai.
The proposal will now be sent to the Union government after it receives the state cabinet's nod, said the MP from Mumbai South-Central constituency in a release.
City chronicler Bharat Gothoskar, however, said not all names had colonial connections, and one name is in fact derived from a Marathi word for grazing land'. <br>Shewale demanded that Curry Road, Sandhurst Road, Cotton Green, Dockyard Road and Kings Circle stations on the Central Railway network be renamed as Lalbaug, Dongari, Kalachowki, Mazgaon and Tirthkar Parshwanath stations, respectively. Marine Lines, Charni Road and Mumbai Central on the Western Railway's network be renamed as Mumbadevi, Girgaon and Nana Jagannath Shankarsheth stations, he said.<br>The state government has already sent a proposal to rename Mumbai Central station as Nana Jagannath Shankarsheth station to the Union government.<br>The Union government is trying to erase the markers of colonial rule and there was a public demand to change the British names of railway stations, the MP said in the release. <br>But Bharat Gothoskar, founder of the Khaki Heritage Foundation, said the names of railway stations, roads or intersections should not be changed as they have history attached to them.<br>Some of the station names, like Charni Road and Marine Lines, do not have any colonial connection, he pointed out.<br>"Charni Road is named for a grazing ground for cattle (charani' in Marathi). So the name change does not make sense. Marine Lines is named after the barracks near Dhobi Talao. Both do not have any colonial connotation. On the other hand, stations named after British governors, Grand Road and Reay Road, have been spared," Gothoskar added.
In 2017, the Union government renamed the Elphinstone Road local station in the city, which took its name from Lord Elphinstone, Governor of Bombay Presidency from 1853 to 1860, as Prabhadevi station after the nearby Prabhadevi temple.
A few days before that, the name of the iconic Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in south Mumbai was modified with the addition of honorific `Maharaj'. Now it is known as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT). It was once known as Victoria Terminus, after Queen Victoria of Great Britain.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)