Central Railway denies image of ‘holes’ being drilled in CST

Days after Central Railway (CR) was criticised for putting up the French flag out of sequence which resulted in it resembling the Dutch flag and went viral on social media, another image is being circulated where men are seen drilling holes for a red carpet into the cantilevered staircase inside the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Although the image was tweeted and retweeted, especially by railway fans, the chief public relations officer (CPRO), Narendra Patil, said that the carpet was only re-fixed on the cantilevered staircase, which is made of stone and that no new holes were drilled into the heritage structure.

“Whenever the red carpet is very loose we basically re-fix the carpet since people can trip over it,” said Mr Patil.

However, one of the tweets aimed at the CR said,“What is the logic of red carpet cantilevered staircase The general manager always takes the elevator.”

The CR has also been under the microscope since the UNESCO declared the Bandra station as a World Heritage monument six months ago.

The CR is yet to come up with a concrete plan for CST after it was declared as a World Heritage Site more than a decade ago.

Mr Patil said that old plates were removed and the carpet was re-fixed again.

“We have only removed the nails that are fixed on a metal plate that runs across beneath the ridge of the staircase,” he said.

“The carpet has been put there in this manner since a long time,” Mr Patil further added.

“So it is not right to say that we drilled new holes into anything,” the CPRO added.