Sena presses for changing British era names of rly stations

The Shiv Sena has pressed for changing the British era names of seven suburban railway stations in Mumbai, giving them a local touch.
A delegation of Shiv Sena leaders met Union Home minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi yesterday to take up the demand, party sources said today.
The party wants to rename Elphinstone Road, Mumbai Central, Charni Road stations on Western Railway, Currey Road on Central Railway and Sandhurst Road, Cotton Green and Reay Road stations on the Harbour Line.
It argues that these names were associated with the British raj, without any direct bearing on the area they denote or local history.

"Most railway stations are named after the areas they are located in. There are some stations where the name of the area is different from the name of the station. We demanded that such stations be known by the name of the area," Sena MP Arvind Sawant told PTI.
Maharashtra Transport minister Diwakar Raote and Sena MP Shrirang Barne were also part of the team that met Singh.

"Rajnath ji was very positive to our demand," Sawant said.
He said the Elphinstone Road station should be renamed as Prabhadevi and Mumbai Central as Nana Shankar Seth.
"The late philanthropist (Seth) was known for his contribution to the city and its growth in its initial years," he said.

Seth had also contributed to the construction of the Victoria Terminus, the iconic station rechristened as Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus by the Shiv Sena-BJP government in the 1990s.
The party also wanted Charni Road station to be renamed as Girgaon, Currey Road as Lalbaug, Sandhurst Road as Dongri, Cotton Green as Kalachowki and Reay Road as Ghodapdeo.
"The addresses and pin codes of these station areas are identified with the names of these places rather than with any of these stations," Sawant said.