A descendant of the founder of the century-old Matheran Hill Railway has lodged a protest with the Central Railway alleging that heritage properties of her family were being demolished and has sought a status quo on such action until the Bombay High Court decides their petition on the issue.

Ms Sarah Peerbhoy, great granddaughter of Abdul Hussein Adamjee Peerbhoy, who built the Matheran Railway at a cost of Rs 16 lakh during the British period in 1907, has written a letter to Central Railway a fortnight back, listing the heritage properties, some of which have been demolished.

Ms Sarah has also enclosed letters from the Maharashtra Government, Matheran Police station and the Raigad district collector urging the Central Railway to stop demolition of the disputed properties until the High Court decides the matter.

According to her, the historic arch at Aman Lodge Railway station in Matheran, erected in 1957 to celebrate its golden jubilee, had been pulled down in March 2009.

The billiard room, dining hall and executive kitchen at Matheran Railway station, built almost a century ago, have also been demolished by the authorities despite the petition, pending for final hearing at the High Court, claiming ownership rights of the Peerbhoy family to Matheran Railway, Ms Sarah said in the letter.

Sir Adamji Peerbhoy, the first Indian Sheriff of Bombay during the British regime, had imported four engines from Germany to run the toy trains to the Matheran Hill. Ms Sarah claimed that one of the locomotives (MLR-741) has been stripped of its parts while another (MLR-740) had been sold to a UK museum some years ago.

The oldest loco MLR-738 is being revived for steam runs, while MLR-739 is at the National Railway Museum in Delhi.

Matheran, a popular hill station in Maharashtra, is a tourist delight because of its toy train railway network.

The proposal to include Matheran Railway as a heritage site is pending with UNESCO.

The Peerbhoy family has also filed a separate petition in the High Court seeking Rs 90 crore as royalty from the Indian Government which acquired the Railway from them in 1951 without making any payment. This petition, too, has been admitted and is awaiting a final hearing.

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