The Nilgiri Documentation Center (NDC) has written to the general manager of Southern Railways criticising them for what the NDC termed to be “the wanton mutilation” of the front of the Heritage Ooty Railway station, which was recently painted with murals depicting the lives of tribal communities in the Nilgiris.
Venugopal Dharmalingam, honorary director of the NDC, said that heritage railway station across the world are preserved as close to their original architecture and look.
“That is what heritage is all about. Can one paint the Victoria Terminus or the Southern Railway Headquarters?” wondered Mr. Dharmalingam, in a statement.
In a statement he said that the NMR was a world heritage site and had to be preserved for the benefit of heritage enthusiasts across the world. “Every enthusiast expects to relive the history and flavour of the original site. Snowdonia in Wales has the only other running mountain railway line built by Roman Abt, the architect of NMR. In comparison to NMR, its significance is negligible. Yet, the whole town protects and preserves the rail line as their treasured heritage,” he said,
While commending the railways for their initiatives to promote tourism along the NMR, he said that the NMR stations themselves have been transformed “unimaginatively.”
“The changes are doubly regrettable. By trying to glorify the tribes depicted in the graffiti [sic] on the face of the building, the Southern Railway has in fact denigrated them. Tribals and indigenous people are not objects of public display or publicity. It betrays a lack of sensitivity on the part of your officials. A central government agency cannot be part of that,” he stated.