Villagers protest to rename Central Park metro station name to Murbi

The villagers have been demanding a name change for the Central Park station since the project was initiated

PANVEL: The villagers of Murbi, including women, held a protest fast on Friday, demanding to rename the Central Park metro station after the local village Murbi, and have threatened to intensify their stir if their demand is not met.

Villagers gathered for the hunger strike on Friday (Bacchan Kumar/ HT Photo)

The metro services are set to be inaugurated soon, reportedly by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

CIDCO (City and Industrial Development Corporation) is set to commission Line 1 of the Navi Mumbai metro from Belapur to Pendhar, which has 11 stations.

The villagers have been demanding a name change for the Central Park station since the project was initiated. “It was in 2014 that our Owe gram panchayat had passed a resolution for the station to be named after Murbi village. In 2015, CIDCO declared the names of the stations. We have been corresponding on the issue with CIDCO for a long time but haven’t got any positive response.” Jagdish Thakur, president of Murbi Gramasth Mandal, said.

The Central Park gate is almost 2km from the station, while Murbi village is just 200-300 meters from it. “What is the logic of not naming the station after Murbi when 6 of the 11 stations have been named after the local villages?,” questioned Thakur.

“If CIDCO doesn’t accept our demand within a month, we shall intensify our stir. We will lock the metro station and throw away the existing name board, replacing it with Murbi’s name,” said Thakur.

Extending support, former PWP MLC Balaram Patil said, “This is a just demand of the villagers, and we are standing by them. This is an attempt to ignore the locals, and it is not acceptable.”

CIDCO refused to comment on the demand.