In news– Recently, the Indian Prime Minister inaugurated the revamped Rani Kamalapati station.
About the Rani Kamalapati railway station–
- It is India’s ‘most-modern’ railway station located in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.
- It is part of the West Central Railway.
- Previously known as Habibganj, the railway station has been renamed after Gond queen Rani Kamalapati.
- The station has been redeveloped at a cost of around Rs 450 crore in the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode.
- Designed as a green building, this railway station has all the modern world-class amenities that also take into account ease of mobility for the physically challenged.
- It has also been revamped as a hub for integrated multi-modal transport and has been built with modern world-class features.
About Rani Kamalapati–
- She was the widow of the 18th century Ginnorgarh’s chief, Gond ruler Nizam Shah.
- She was one of Nizam Shah’s seven wives and daughter of Chaudhari Kirpa-Ramchandra.
- She was well-known for her beauty and abilities and was often praised.
- She built the seven-storey ‘Kamlapati Palace’ (in 1722 Bhopal), which presently serves as an ASI-protected monument and overlooks the Upper and Lower Lakes.
- This Palace is a secular architecture of the 18th century built of Lakhauri bricks, cusped arches over crumpled pillars.
- She avenged her husband’s death by killing Alam Shah, Nizam Shah’s nephew.
- Nizam Shah was poisoned to death by his nephew, the Raja of Chainpur-Bari, Alam Shah (also known as Chain Shah), who wanted to marry Kamlapati.
- Queen Kamlapati died of suicide by jumping into the lake in 1723.
The Gond community is one of the largest tribal groups in India and belongs to the GondiManda subgroup of the South Central branch of the Dravidian language family.
Source: India Today
