Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw’s invitation to common people to offer their opinions on refurbishing and remodelling the Cuttack railway station in Odisha has sparked off a debate.

The railway minister posted the proposed remodelling sketches on his Twitter account on Saturday with the hashtag “Naye Bharat Ka Naya Station”.

He asked people to rate the scorecard on the proposed designs for remodelling of the Cuttack Railway station.

He asked the people to mark the designs with a score on the rating — extraordinary, excellent, very good, and average.

Many netizens have reacted to it. Most of them pointed out how the passengers are more interested in the train coach experience, punctual running of trains, clean toilets, decent quality of food, proper taps in coaches.

One person tweeted: “Train travel was meant to serve poor Indians. These days it’s no longer pocket-friendly and travel cost has increased with no increase in passenger convenience. Many trains have been scrapped, affecting connectivity and convenience. Railways is run as a business, not service.”

However, many of them also welcomed the move.

Cuttack Mayor Subhash Chandra Singh said that the railway should issue a timeline for the progress and completion of the modernisation work.

“It’s fine on the part of the railway minister to seek public opinion. But the talks on the modernisation of the Cuttack railway station have been going on for the last 10 years. During my tenure as a Rajya Sabha member (April 2014-May 2019), I too had raised the issue and met the railway minister. There should not be any further delay in the work,” Singh told The Telegraph.

The proposed design was prepared to showcase the city’s most attractive ancient structure — the Barabati fort, a fort built in 989 AD. The ruins of the fort remain with its moat, gate, and the earthen mound of the nine-storied palace.

The proposed Barabati fort-like railway station architecture sketches display the outer look of the station, entry and exit beside the booking counters, waiting hall and suburban roof plaza in the complex.

“Once the design is approved after due public consultation and experts’ approval, the ministry will prepare the detailed project report, and allocate funds to carry out the modernisation work,” said an official.

The landscape will also be developed under the modernisation plan of the Cuttack railway station, an NSG-3 (Non-suburban Grade-3) category station.

As per the plan, it will have an art gallery, food court, and facilities for checking bags like at the airports.