New postal cover to remember Shahu Maharaj

A special postal cover of Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj will be published soon to recognize his contribution to the Indian Railways. The Pune division of Central Railway (CR) has taken this decision.  In 19th century, the visionary late Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj laid down the foundation of railway network in Kolhapur and connected the district with main network. To recognize this contribution. the railway administration has decided to publish a postal cover with Indian post on May 18. As per a report published in The Times of India senior divisional commercial manager Pune division Krishnat Patil said, "We have organised a special programme to recognise the contribution of Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj to Indian Railways. We have arranged a function as Kolhapur railway station recently completed 126 years. Along with the function, we have arranged a station beautification programme with the help of local arts school. We implemented a similar experiment in Pune." Beautification work will give the station a better look and social messages would help in creating awareness among people on issues like cleanliness, save girl child, among others. Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj was a visionary leader who put Kolhapur on map of India through his path-breaking decisions like reservation for infrastructural works like Kolhapur Miraj track and Radhanagari dam. Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj had laid the foundation of Kolhapur station on May 1, 1888 and it took three years for its completion. The first railway journey was between Kolhapur and Miraj on April 20, 1891. The legendary king built as many as 125 small and big bridges between Kolhapur and Pune. The track between Kolhapur and Miraj converted into broad-gauge in 1971 and first Kolhapur-Mumbai Mahalaxmi express started on May 11, 1971 when Vasantrao Naik was the chief minister of Maharashtra.