The Centre on Saturday gave green signal to the BJP-led Maharashtra government’s decision to rename the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus by adding ‘Maharaj’ and rechristen Western Railway’s Elphinstone Road station as ‘Prabhadevi’ station.
“The Centre has approved renaming of Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus. Also, Elphinstone Road railway station has now been renamed to Prabhadevi,” Maharashtra Transport Minister Diwakar Raote said in a statement.
Raote said that the state government has published the changed names in English and Devnagri scripts in the gazette and had sought the Centre’s approval for renaming of the stations.
“We had followed this issue with the Centre for years and have finally succeeded in getting our demand met,” added the minister.
Welcoming the Centre’s decision, Raote said the state government would initiate measures to implement it on priority.
The name ‘Prabhadevi’ is dedicated to 300-year old temple of Goddess Prabhavati Devi in the area and it will replace the name Elphinstone, named after the 13th Governor of Bombay, Lord John Elphinstone. CST station will be renamed to CSMT on the demands made by the Shiv Sena, which had asked the government to include ‘Maharaj’ as a mark of respect to the Maratha king.
