Rules for renaming of roads on the anvil

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, AUG. 29. The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) will soon frame rules for renaming of roads and public areas, including parks, in the City.

At the BMP Council meeting here on Wednesday, the BMP Commissioner, Mr. Ashok M.Dalwai, said the rules were necessary to put an end to indiscriminate renaming of roads in the City. All pending proposals on renaming of roads and public areas in the City would be verified before November 1, he said.

The former Mayor, Ms. Padmavathy Gangadhara Gowda, who raised the issue, said there was confusion over renaming of roads in the City. She demanded that a policy be framed in this regard.

``The corporators suggest new names for roads, and the legislators disagree with them. Besides, the new names are not used in official records. Some roads are even being named after unknown persons. It is time the BMP put an end to this,'' she said.

Mr. Dalwai said that before any resolution regarding renaming of roads was adopted in the council, the BMP would verify the credentials and contributions of the personalities after whom they were proposed to be renamed. After seeking the opinion of people, the BMP officers would inspect the road. The proposal would then be referred to the Standing Committee on Town Planning, he said.

According to the KMC Act, the BMP Commissioner had powers to make suitable suggestions regarding renaming of roads before placing the proposal for approval in the council. All renamed roads would be identified by the new names only if the State Government approved the council's resolution. The BMP could name only new roads or public areas that did not have names. But it could not rename the roads on its own without the Government's approval, he said.

Reacting to Mr. Dalwai's statement that the Kannada Development Authority (KDA) Chairman, Mr. Baragur Ramachandrappa, had suggested renaming of 35 roads, the former Opposition Leader in the Council, Mr. Gangabhyraiah, opposed the idea. He said that the contribution of the personality, whose name had been proposed, towards society should be assessed before making any proposal.

While the Council approved the Janata Dal(Secular) members' proposal to rename Ring Road after the former Prime Ministers, Mr. H.D.Deve Gowda, the proposal to rename Avenue Road after the economist, Mr. Venkatagiri Gowda, was rejected.

The proposals were moved by the former Mayors, Mr. J.Huchappa and Mr. M.Ramachandrappa.

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Section  : Southern States
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