Railways Ministry refuses to shift Maharaja Saloon Coach from Delhi National Rail Museum to Mysuru
Mysuru: The Ministry of Railways has turned down the local MP’s request to shift the Mysore Maharaja Saloon Coach, which is currently placed at the National Rail Museum in New Delhi, to the Mysuru Rail Museum.
Mysuru MP Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar and his predecessor Pratap Simha in 2022 had requested that the coach be shifted. The MPs had stated that Mysuru was the seat of power of the Mysore Maharajas and placing the coach for display at the city museum rather than in New Delhi made greater sense, The Hindu has reported.
The Ministry of Railway, in its official response dated September 30, called the saloon coach of the Mysore Maharaja, which was more than 125 years old, one of the prestigious exhibits at the National Rail Museum and explained that it could suffer irreparable damage during the long-distance transportation from New Delhi to Mysuru.
Aashima Mehrotra, Executive Director, Heritage, Railway Board, addressed a letter to the General Manager of the South Western Railway, stating that the Mysuru Rail Museum already has the Maharani’s Royal Carriage and a dining-cum-kitchen car as an exhibit.
The Railway authorities had reportedly not literally rejected the MP’s plea to shift the coach to Mysuru, the local authorities have drawn this inference based on the contents of the letter from the higher authorities. The communiqué from the Railway Board has also stated that a virtual tour of the Maharaja’s Saloon was accessible to all on the Google Art and Culture platform, which has also been considered a clarification that the Maharaja’s saloon coach would not be shifted.
The saloon was used by Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar and the coach was built in 1899 at the Bangalore Workshop of Mysore State Railway, reportedly as a three-carriage rake inclusive of the Maharani’s coach and the dining-cum-kitchen car. The undercarriage of the coach was designed in a manner that would enable its use on broad gauge and metre gauge tracks as well, sources added. The cost of fabricating and building the coach was ₹29,508 each and the Maharani’s coach was built in 1914.
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902 families wiped out in one year, one survivor in 1,364 Palestinian families: Gazan Media office
Gaza: The Government Media Office in Gaza issued a statement on Wednesday, accusing the Israeli military of committing acts of genocide, with the support of the United States and other Western nations, over the past year in the Gaza Strip. The statement claimed that the Israeli occupation forces had exterminated 902 Palestinian families, erasing them from the civil registry by killing all members of these families during the year-long conflict.
Additionally, the statement highlighted that 1,364 Palestinian families were left with only one surviving member, while 3,472 families had two surviving members. The total number of casualties in Gaza has reportedly exceeded 41,000, with nearly 20,000 people still missing, according to Palestinian officials.
The statement also extended condemnation to the United States and several European countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, and France, accusing them of supplying Israel with banned weapons. It called upon the international community and United Nations organizations to intervene, pressuring Israel to halt its military actions in Gaza and to end the violence that has been ongoing for a full year.
The conflict, which began on October 7 last year following an attack by Hamas, has since expanded into Lebanon. Despite calls for an immediate ceasefire from the UN Security Council, Israel’s military operations in Gaza continue.
The Government Media Office in Gaza emphasized the need for global denouncement of what it described as systematic crimes against civilians, including women and children, urging action to stop the bloodshed.
