Western Railway (WR) has decided to pull down the facade covering the Churchgate railway station building on which a mural of Mahatma Gandhi was painted. An aluminium panel from the facade had fallen on June 12 on pedestrians, leading to the death of one person.
Ravinder Bhakar, chief public relations officer, WR, said they were removing the aluminium cladding temporarily until the structural audit was completed. “We will take a call on whether to reinstall it once the findings of the audit come in and after the monsoon season ends,” he said.
Madhukar Narvekar (62), was the victim of the panel from the facade falling due to high winds on account of cyclone Vayu. In the aftermath of the accident, a structural audit of the facade and other structures at the station was ordered. The structure had been declared fit during an inspection in 2018 and was due to be inspected again this year. Senior officials said swirling winds at high speeds led to five panels from the east facing part of the mural to break loose and fall. The section of the footpath has since been cordoned off for pedestrians.
Aluminium panels were placed in 2012 on the facade of the station building, which houses the offices of the Western Railway’s headquarters. In 2017, under an initiative of St+Art Foundation, Asian Paints and Western Railway, a mural depicting Mahatma Gandhi exiting a train was created by Brazilian artist Eduardo Kobra.