Bhopal: Habibganj, the first world-class railway station in Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh, will soon be renamed as Rani Kamalapati Station. PM Narendra Modi is also likely to make an official announcement on November 15. The state transport department had sent a proposal to the central government to rename the station, which got the green signal on Friday. Rani Kamalapati was the widow of Nizam Shah, the head of Ginnaurgarh, and the last tribal Gond king, and now the station will be named after her.

It may be recalled that on November 15 itself, the Modi government has announced to celebrate Tribal Pride Day. It will last a week to showcase the pride of the Scheduled Tribes of India. Gond is India's largest tribal community with a population of more than 12 million. Linguistically, the Gond belongs to the Gondi-Manda subgroup of the South Central Branch of the Dravidian language family. This railway station will now provide a number of modern facilities to passengers including shopping complexes, hospitals, malls, smart parking, and high security.

Habibganj station, which started the concept of building green toilets in trains, was constructed by the British before independence. It expanded in 1979. Earlier in 1901, Indian Railways was formed by connecting railways owned by 42 states of India. Talking of independence, the Indian Railways had a network of 55,000 kilometres during this period. On April 16, 1853, India's first train from Bombay with 14 coaches and 400 passengers left for Thane. The train covered a distance of 34 kilometres, after which India took the first step towards a new era when it started manufacturing steam engines.

The first steam engine loco number F-734 1895 was built at Ajmer Workshop in Rajputana Malwa. The Railway Board was later constituted in 1901 in view of the increasing requirements. After Independence, several lines were re-routed and new lines were laid to connect big cities. In 1952, the existing rail network was divided into 6 zones for administrative purposes. This was followed by the construction of several stations, including Habibgan railway station in 1979.

Habibganj railway station was named after Nawab Habib Mian of Bhopal. Earlier it was called Shahpur, but in 1979, the Railways named it Habibganj. At that time, MP Nagar was named Ganj, when the two were combined to name Habibganj. Habib Mian donated his land for the expansion of the station in 1979. Because of which it was named Habibganj.

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