NEW DELHI: A railway engineer credited with restoring the world’s oldest working steam locomotive for running the Fairy Queen between Delhi and Alwar now has the task of transforming Prime Ministers Museum and Library (PMML, earlier known as Teen Murti) in the national capital. PM Modi-led appointments committee of the Cabinet has appointed Ashwani Lohani, 67, as director of PMML.Lohani, who has headed Railway Board, Air India and Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation in his long career, has been appointed “on contract basis for three years from the date of assumption of charge, or until further orders whichever is earlier, in the rank and pay of secretary to govt of India by keeping recruitment rules of the post in abeyance,” says the order issued Wednesday.Known as a “turnaround specialist,” Lohani’s name figures in the Limca Book of Records’ 2007 edition for earning four engineering degrees at the age of 21 in 1979 and is a Guinness record holder in 1998 for running the Fairy Queen. He piloted the nomination of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway and Bodhgaya’s Mahabodhi Temple as world heritage sites. He was heading ITDC in 2001-02 and is credited with substantially improving Delhi’s Ashoka Hotel. Lohani’s blog lists “turning around sick corporations” among his main interests. At Air India, he launched the airline’s longest nonstop between Delhi and San Francisco.
