Barodians had campaigned against rly bldg

Vadodara: It was in July last year that Barodians raised their voice against the construction of a new building right opposite the Pratap Vilas Palace that is owned by the Indian railways. The royal Gaekwad family initiated an online petition to stop construction of the building that was proposed by the railways to house National Rail and Transportation Institute (NRTI).
Radhikaraje Gaekwad had said that new building on the lawns opposite the 16-year-old palace would ruin aesthetics of the heritage structure.
The Gaekwads even wrote a letter to the then railways minister Piyush Goyal and urged him to put brakes on the project.
Soon, other prominent Barodians stepped in. Sanjeev Shah, a chartered accountant and ex-director of Container Corporation of India Ltd, took up the issue with the railway ministry. Joshi, co-convenor of Gujarat Chapter of Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) wrote to the director general of National Academy of Indian Railways (NAIR) and urged him to change the location of the proposed building.
Vadodara MP Ranjan Bhatt too raised the issue in the Parliament in September last year.
Bhatt said during the zero hour that a tall building opposite Palace would affect the beauty of the structure and suggested that an alternative site be selected for the same.