Special focus on construction with due regard to minarets: Vaishnaw on redesign of Ahmedabad railway station
He further said, “To integrate the station with the city, we are building an elevated corridor on top of the existing road that will give the city more than twice the road surface"
3 min read
Vaishnaw said, “We have put a lot of focus on especially how construction proceeds with due regard to the minarets here” (Express Photo)“Saaru chhe? (looks good?),” asked Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to journalists while highlighting the redesign of Ahmedabad Railway Station to integrate Gujarati culture and heritage in the form of an existing monument on the premises.
While visiting the site of the Multi-modal Transport Hub (MMTH) coming up at Ahmedabad Railway Station in Kalupur on Saturday, Vaishnaw stressed on the fact that the new premises have been “redesigned” to accommodate the “Brick Minarets” — a protected monument — and install a “toran darwaza” at the entrance of the premises.
Vaishnaw said, “We have put a lot of focus on especially how construction proceeds with due regard to the minarets here.”
Vaishnaw further said, “The biggest thing is that we received many representations from the people of Ahmedabad regarding their heritage.”
To emphasise this point, the Railway Minister asked the staff to bring over a board with the 3D representation of the front of the railway station. Pointing at the board, he said, “As you can see here, we redesigned this completely to integrate heritage in the station design as we had received representations about this matter. The Home Minister (Amit Shah) too reviewed this and the PM (Narendra Modi) has also given us a single, strong directive — that the station should be built according to the culture of the city. We have also made a ‘toran darwaza’ here according to Gujarat culture.”
On the speed of construction, Vaishnaw said, “The MMTH tower is coming up here. Once the foundations are done, the speed of construction will be such that one floor (storey) will be built per month and then later on, the time will be further reduced to 20-25 days per floor. This is a unique experiment.” The MMTH is envisaged to have 16 floors plus two basements.
He further said, “To integrate the station with the city, we are building an elevated corridor on top of the existing road that will give the city more than twice the road surface, which will make transportation in this area easier. Thirdly, the bullet train is also coming up here at the station. That will also be completely integrated with the station to make transportation between rail and bullet train seamless.”
You May Like
Photos
