Haryana, Rajasthan seek to rename most number of villages, towns

NEW DELHI: BJP government in Haryana and Rajasthan sent the most number of proposals for changing the name of villages and towns, according to the home ministry. Out of the 67 requests for no-objection certificate (NOC) from 2017 to Feb 2020, 16 each came from the two states.

BJP came to power in Haryana in 2014 while Congress came back to power in Rajasthan in December 2018 by defeating Vasundhara Raje-led BJP. “Several renaming proposals from Rajasthan came during the Raje administration. A lot of the renamed villages had Muslim names and were changed on the demands of local population,” a government official told ET.

In Rajasthan, village Mahmoodganj was renamed Mahadev Pura, Meda Brahmanan was named Meda Purohitan while Miyon ka Bara is Mahesh Nagar now. Similarly, Haryana changed the name from village Kinnar to Gaibi Nagar, Chamar Khera to Sundar Khera and Khizrabad to Pratap Nagar. Maharashtra (7) and Madhya Pradesh (6), too, had proposal to rename their villages, towns and districts, home ministry recently informed Parliament.

Under the guidelines for renaming railway stations, villages, towns and cities, it is mandatory to obtain a NOC from the Union home ministry. MHA had earlier approved the renaming of the British-era railway station Robertsgang to Sonbhadra and Mughalsarai to Deen Dayal Upadhyay junction.

Some other name-change proposals included Rajahmundry as Rajamahendravaram; Outer Wheeler as APJ Abdul Kalam Island; Arikkod as Areekode in Malappuram, Kerala; and Samphur as Sanphure, in Kiphire, Nagaland.

According to MHA, 52 proposals by the statesand Union territories were given NOC while 14 are still under consideration.

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