New Delhi: The Prime Ministers Museum and Library, previously known as the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, has got a new director – former Air India chief Ashwani Lohani – months after the post was vacated earlier this year.

Lohani is an Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineering (IRSME) officer of the 1980 batch. 

Before his appointment, Lily Pandeya, joint secretary in the Union culture ministry, had taken over as interim director after the tenure of former power secretary Sanjiv Nandan Sahai ended in March 2025.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved Lohani’s appointment on June 4 for a three-year tenure, the Indian Express reported.

Lohani has served as the chairman and managing director of Air India in the past. He was also the chairman of the Railway Board of Indian Railways in 2017 and joined the GMR group as chief executive officer after retiring from government service.

The Union government has also expanded the executive council of PMML from 29 members to 34. The new members include former Union minister Smriti Irani, NITI Aayog former vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar, retired Army General Syed Ata Hasnain, renowned filmmaker Shekhar Kapur, and Vasudev Kamath from Sanskar Bharati, according to a notification issued by the culture ministry.

Former principal secretary to the prime minister Nripendra Mishra has been reappointed as the chairperson of the organisation.

Other new members include Sanjeev Sanyal, a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, archaeologist K.K. Mohammad, who was part of the Babri Masjid excavation team in 1976, and former head of the National Museum, B.R. Mani, the paper reported.

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