Some achievement
Bingo! In a stunning discovery, the Ballard Bunder
Gate, once the formal entrance to the Ballard Pier
railway station, was unearthed sandwiched between the
outer dockyard wall and the scrapyard located just off
Tiger Gate in January 2005.
Says the Times of India’s Mumbai edition dated January
25 on its front page, “Surprisingly, the gate which
has escaped from public view in early 1950s was almost
forgotten.”
A great find indeed. In fact as a part of my research,
I have been studying the subject for the past four
years and just a few days ago had informed the WR big
shots about a possible heritage treasure at the site
Check the timeline for yourself
Dec 9, 2004
The issue was being discussed at the Bombay Railway
History Group mailing list formed to discuss
conservation of railway heritage in and around Mumbai.
Dec 7, 2004
Took up the matter with the WR bosses to get remains
of Ballard Pier explored. Spoke with the chief public
relations officer of the Western Railway, Shailendra
Kumar, on December 7, 2004. In an informal talk, he
and his deputy, Bhagwat Dahisarkar, were alerted that
the WR should go ahead and explore the remains of the
old Ballard Pier Mole station. As WR being a
government body could get easy access to the land,
which now comes under the navy as is a “prohibited
area”. He said he would get it checked.
The issue was also brought in for discussion at the
Indian Steam Railway mailing list a year ago.
In 2002, I had approached Mark Tully to get info on
the unexplored remains of the Ballard Pier Mole
station through a common friend John King. He had
replied in the positive and said the best person to be
contacted would be Sandeep Silas, the railway PR
officer.
Jan 2005: Navy discovers the forgotten entrance at the
gate.
Check the ‘Times’ article at
http://www1.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1000273.cms
Check our discussions at
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/brhg/
Check the “custom page” link on
www.brhg.4t.com
Regards
Rajendra Aklekar
The Bombay Railway History Group
140-4752, Nehru Nagar, Mumbai 24
Call: (91-22) 9892 190 761
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