NEW DELHI: The Maharashtra government on Friday issued a notification renaming Ahmednagar railway station after receiving approval from the Union Home Ministry. The government is changing the station name to Ahilyanagar Railway Station. Earlier, the Ahmednagar district was renamed as Ahilyanagar district, PTI reported. Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, who had pursued the matter, thanked Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw for granting the approval. Chief inmister Devendra Fadnavis and deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde were also involved in the efforts, a statement from Pawar’s office said. Last month, Pawar had written to Vaishnaw urging that the station be renamed to align with the city’s new name. “This long-pending demand has now been fulfilled. The renaming holds special significance as we are celebrating the 300th birth anniversary year of Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar,” Pawar said. Several organisations and citizens had been demanding that the railway station’s name be changed after the city was renamed Ahilyanagar. Pawar also said efforts are underway to rename Aurangabad railway station as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar railway station. Earlier, a similar thing was done by Karnataka government but that didn’t go well with Fadnavis. The Congress government in Karnataka moved to rename Shivajinagar metro rail station in Bengaluru after St Mary.Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah recently said his government would consider renaming Bengaluru’s Shivajinagar metro station after St Mary following a request made during the annual feast at St Mary’s Basilica. His deputy DK Shivakumar had claimed there is nothing unusual in responding to such community requests.Talking to reporters here, Fadnavis said, “I condemn the Karnataka government’s move to rename Shivajinagar metro station in Bengaluru after St Mary. Its an insult to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. The Congress has continued its tradition of insulting the Maratha warrior king since the time of Nehru who made comments against Shivaji Maharaj in his book Discovery of India.” Fadnavis said he was praying that the Almighty gives Siddaramaiah sense to not go ahead with such a decision that is based on religion and was against the Maratha warrior king.
