SBI to help restore Mumbai’s heritage site Shivaji Terminus

Mumbai, Oct 17 (IANS) Biggest public sector lender State Bank of India will help restore and conserve the world heritage site of Central Railway headquarters, the iconic Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), officials said here on Tuesday.

Central Railway's Divisional Railway Manager S.K. Jain and SBI Managing Director P.K. Gupta signed a memorandum of understanding, as per which the SBI Foundation will provide Rs 10 crore towards the project under the "SBI-Project Swachh Iconic CSMT".

The Shivaji Terminus has been identified as one of the top 10 Swachh Iconic Places by the Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation under the Swachh Bharat Mission programme of the central government.

The SBI Foundation will provide the amount to the Central Railway over a period of three-to-five years for renovation of the building, which would be evaluated, executed and monitored by the Central Railway.

"The conservation and restoration of the world heritage site will be in conformity with internationally accepted norms and methodology," said Central Railway General Manager D.K. Sharma.

This would involve conservation and restoration of the GM building, Old Annexe building facade, southern side open space restoration of ground level, and paving, landscaping, restoration of the heritage compound wall, museum, etc., to be done by INTACH, an expert agency.

An engineering marvel designed by famous architect F.W. Stevens, the Shivaji Terminus -- originally called Victoria Terminus -- was built at a cost of around Rs 1.61 million and will complete 130 years next May (2018).

Earlier, Central Railway CPRO Sunil Udasi, in his welcome remarks, detailed the engineering and architectural marvels of the building and its importance to global tourists.