New Delhi: South Campus and Moti Bagh stations on the Delhi Metro Pink Line have been renamed Durgabai Deshmukh South Campus and Sir Vishweshwaraiah Moti Bagh stations, respectively, as per the original plan, said people familiar with the development on Sunday.
Eight other Delhi Metro stations will be renamed, the people indicated.
Durgabai Deshmukh South Campus station, named after the freedom fighter, social worker and educationist, is a part of the Pink Line inaugurated in mid-March, and Sir Vishweshwaraiah Moti Bagh station, expected to open soon, intends to fortify the legacy of the legendary engineer-scholar.
Both places are among the 10 stations whose names were changed following recommendations of the committee set up for reanaming metro stations, the people said.
“The other stations include Tughlakabad (changed to Tughlakabad Station), Okhla (to Harkesh Nagar Okhla), Badarpur (to Badarpur Border) on Violet Line; Okhla-Phase III (to Okhla NSIC) on Magenta Line and Ghevra (Ghevra Metro Station) on Green Line,” one of the people quoted above said.
On the proposed corridor from Dwarka to Dhansa bus stand, two stations were renamed after the panel’s recommendations: Municipal Corporation (to Najafgarh) and Najafgarh Depot Station (to Nangli).
The changes were approved by the Delhi government, the people said, adding that the original plan of the Majlis Park-South Campus corridor of Pink Line only mentioned the two stations as South Campus and Moti Bagh stations.
Deshmukh was instrumental in setting up the Sri Venkateswara College, a part of the Delhi University’s South Campus. The station is located close to the college. The rechristening, in a nod to her legacy, was done prior to the opening of the Pink Line corridor.
Incidentally, the two stations are the first ones on the Delhi Metro network to have been named after personalities, and Durgabai Deshmukh South Campus is the first metro station to carry the name of a female luminary.
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has also renamed some of its stations as part of its co-branding policy. As many as 41 stations have been taken up under the policy and many have been co-branded while others are in pipeline, the people said.
Three stations-IIT, Greater Kailash and Terminal 1-IGI Airport-on the Kalkaji Mandir-Janakpuri West corridor on the Magenta Line, which is set to be inaugurated on Monday, have been included in the co-branding exercise.
