The headquarters of Western Railway will not be shifted from Mumbai to any other place, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu assured the Rajya Sabha.
Prabhu said this in his intervention while replying to the concerns raised of Shiv Sena member Sanjay Raut, who had in November last year written to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to ensure that the Western Railway headquarters is not shifted from Mumbai to Gujarat.
Recently eleven MPs from Gujarat cutting across party lines had demanded shifting of the headquarters of the Western Railway from Mumbai to Ahmedabad.
They also planned to give a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu in this regard soon.
Raising the issue during the debate on Railway Budget in the Upper House, Raut said if there is any such plan of the government, “keep it under check in your heart”.
Noting that there are reports that some people want to shift the Western Railway headquarters from Mumbai eleswhere, Raut said that the Railway Minister should clarify over it.
Allaying such fears, Prabhu said, “There is no proposal to shift the headquarters of Western Railway from Mumbai to outside.”
In the letter to the Maharashtra Chief Minister Fadnavis, Raut had said that the demand of MPs from Gujarat to shift WR Headquarters from Mumbai to the neighbouring state is a “conspiracy to weaken Maharashtra”.
BJP MP from Ahmedabad West constituency, Kirit Solanki, last year had sent a proposal to the ministry on shifting the WR headquarters to Gujarat.
Similar demand was also made during the tenure of former Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Mumbai is the headquarter of both the Western Railway and the Central Railway.
