Mysuru: Following publication of the news item titled “Tourism Minister wants City Railway Station development stopped after 60% works done !” in yesterday’s SOM, the authorities in South Western Railway (SWR), Mysuru Division, have reiterated that the redevelopment works at Mysuru Railway Station has been undertaken duly maintaining the integrity of heritage structures.  

“The charge of tampering with heritage structure is vehemently denied. The works of Station redevelopment are divided into sub-works in which improvement to circulating area forms the major chunk.  During rush hours lot of congestion was seen in front of the Railway Station, specially at the entrance near Babu Jagjivan Ram Circle. With a view to ease the traffic and introduce lane traffic, works have been taken up,” stated a press release from Dr. S.G. Yatish, Sr.Divisional Commercial Manager and PRO, SWR, Mysuru Division.

“This involves clearing the garbage in front of  ‘A2B’ restaurant in Railway boundary, cleaning and sprucing up the space, shifting of heritage pillars, redrawing the divider, underground electrical work for proper lighting & illumination and enhancing the parking space,” he said.

“Passenger Reservation System (PRS) has been shifted adjacent to UTS ticketing so that all ticketing is in one place.  The view of pillars which was blocked by earlier construction has been opened up to restore the heritage look of the pillars.  In line with this the façade of annex building where UTS is located is being improved by putting similar pillars in this part to give a uniform look.  All along special care has been taken to retain and restore the heritage look,” the release said.

The Railways clarified that “prior to starting the works, all approvals with heritage committee have been processed including that of shifting the heritage pillars, doing the fencing of Division Office building etc.  Further, the proposed plan has been circulated to City authorities as well as the Heritage Committee at every stage.

Efforts were made to take the Tourism Minister around and share the plan with him. However on his behest the work near the PRS has been temporarily stopped. Heritage Committee has once again visited the site and Division authorities expect a positive communication so that the works can be completed and the disturbance caused because of construction activities can be minimised.”