PM turns down Piyush Goyal’s mischievous plan to turn CSMT into museum

Prime Minister Modi questioned the logic behind such mischievous projects

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has turned down Minister for Railways Piyush Goyal’s mischievous plan to convert Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) into one of the first so-called world class museum-cum-railway stations in India, ministry sources said.

The terminal was built over 10 years, starting in 1878. It was designed on the late medieval Italian models and it was elevated to the status of a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2004.

MR Piyush Goyal had announced to convert the busy terminal into a ‘world-class museum’ during his visit there in November last year. During a meeting attended by Piyush Goyal and senior officers of the Railway Board on March 26, Prime Minister Modi questioned the logic behind such ambitious projects, the sources said.

The sources also said that the Railway Board including all officers and employees was also against Piyush Goyal’s museum proposal, which could displace a lot of employees and it would be difficult to accommodate them somewhere else. Recognized both union of Central Railway and both labour Federation with all Zones of Indian Railways, too, had objected to it.

The Prime Minister is understood to have remarked on the lack of railway artifacts that could be showcased in the proposed museum, which, the sources said, were not enough. The bids for the Rs 250-million project was invited by Railway’s subsidiary RITES, which likely received a response from top architectural conservation and building restoration firms.

At least 13 companies have submitted expressions of interest to design the two floors of the terminal into a museum complex, the sources say. They indicated that the Prime Minister has also cast a shadow on Goyal’s ambitious 100% electrification plan and handing over all OHE assets to the Powergrid Corporation on India and his efforts to modernize the train signaling system by bringing in a European model – all of which are now likely put on hold.

Moreover, Piyush Goyal wanted the Railways to hire more safai karmacharis but has been asked to make do with the existing staff, the sources said. All the PMO’s objections, they said, have now been published as minutes of the meeting and thus documented.

During the meeting, the ministry was asked to concentrate on projects that are implementable. These projects had objections from the Railway Board, Zonal Railways and even in certain cases the Finance Ministry, the sources said.

Source: PTI