Heritage character of Amritsar railway station to stay intact, assures DRM

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, July 22

Allaying fears of heritage lovers that redevelopment of the Amritsar railway station would change its heritage character, the Ferozepur Division of the Northern Railway has announced that the original structure of the railway station would be maintained during its facelift.

Rajesh Aggarwal, Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Ferozepur Division, said: “Concerns of heritage lovers over lose of heritage character during the facelift of the Amritsar railway station are completely unfounded.”

DRM Aggarwal said the aim was to upgrade all facilities at the railway station to provide totally different experience to the passengers the moment they step in. The Indian Railways has decided to give an iconic look to the station, befitting to the stature of it being the holy city on public-private partnership model, he said. The railway official said it was difficult to provide all facilities, including divyang-friendly entry and exit, in the existing building.

The Indian Railways Station Development Corporation (IRSDC) confirmed that the present building would not be demolished and a new station building would be constructed which would serve as entry/exit point to the platforms. The plan was to carry out adaptive re-use for the existing building so that its unique features could be utilised to enhance the user experience, the DRM said.

He said upon consulting the old records of the Railways, it was found that the original building, which was built during the period from 1859 to 1862, was demolished long back to pave the way for more platforms and the present building was constructed thereafter. The present building had never been tagged as heritage building by any national or international agency, he said.

Though the present building was developed keeping in mind the local history and the Sikh architecture that public and professionals consider being of heritage value, the official said.