Passengers flock to Ram Mandir while netas spar

Union railway minister Suresh Prabhu inaugurated Ram Mandir station, which opened to commuters on December 22. The process of naming the station, between Goregaon and Jogeshwari, started in the beginning of 2016, but it finally picked up momentum in June, with ‘Ram Mandir’ being eventually chosen, because of a 150-year-old temple of Lord Ram in the vicinity.

After the naming and inauguration of Ram Mandir station was completed, demands were made for the names of other stations to be changed as well — e.g. Dadar to Chaityabhoomi, and Elphinstone Road to Prabhadevi. Nearly two decades ago, the name of Victoria Terminus was changed to Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus. The Ram Mandir station had passed through various stages of construction since 2008. It has four platforms, two each for slow trains and the yet-to-be-ready Harbour line section.  

Constructed at a cost of Rs 32 crore, it is the 37th suburban station on the Churchgate-Dahanu Road route of the Western Railway (WR).

This station would de-congest traffic by providing direct connectivity to commercial hubs in the east, where the offices of various firms are located.

Allies clash at station inauguration
In the name of Lord Ram, workers from the BJP and the Shiv Sena almost got into blows and heated arguments, shortly after the inauguration of the newly constructed Ram Mandir station in the western suburbs. While both the parties blamed each other, the incident brought to the fore the underlying tension simmering within the two saffron allies and its workers.

According to people present at the event, Mr Diwakar Raote, state transport minister and Shiv Sena’s local member of Parliament, Gajanan Kirtikar, lost their cool due to the constant sloganeering of BJP workers.

Mr Raote allegedly threatened the BJP men with the same consequences as he was being meted out at the function. Mr Kirtikar said that both the party workers were present, but the BJP men were continuously shouting slogans.