Jabalpur: The Madhya Pradesh government could rename several areas here that were named during the British era. The Municipal Corporation of Jabalpur wants to name these areas on well-known personalities in India.
Criticising the movement, the leader of the opposition of the Municipal Corporation Amrish Mishra said if the names of half of the areas are changed, then people will also have to change their addresses in the necessary documents, which will create plenty of difficulties.
Initially, Jabalpur city was settled in the Gondwana period. Therefore, most of the names were named after the Gond kings or their families. But Jabalpur expanded after the arrival of the British, and they shaped this old village into a city.
Napier Town was named after Alan Burter Napier, who was the Deputy Commissioner of Jabalpur in 1912. During the British rule, Jabalpur was ruled by Raja Gokul Das, who had a factory in which Arthur Wright used to work. Jabalpur's Wright Town was named after him.
A locality in Jabalpur is known as Uprainganj. In 1817, Major O'Brien snatched Jabalpur from the Marathas, and O'Brien Ganj was named after him. It became Uprain Ganj in common parlance. Niwar Ganj was named after W Nimhai, and Lord Ganj was named after Lord William Bentinck.
CA Miloni became the first Commissioner of Jabalpur, after whom Miloniganj was named. Not only this, Mukadamganj was named after Major General Mekadum. Similarly, the famous Russell Chowk of the city was named after EL Russell.
Jabalpur Mayor Jagat Bahadur Singh Annu said, "The names given by the British remind us of slavery, which is why we are changing the names of these areas and asking the public to suggest names after the great personalities of India. The Municipal Corporation wants to change all the names given by the British one by one."
BJP leader Raghavendra Yadav, who lives Right Town area, said, "There is no dearth of great men in India; then why should we continue the names of the British? These localities should be named after great men like Mahatma Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose, and Chandrashekhar Azad."
Amrish Mishra said, "The process of changing the name will not lead to the development of the city; rather, it will cause problems for the public. Because these areas have been using the same names for the past 150 years. If these names are changed, then lakhs of people living in these areas will have to change their addresses in documents such as Aadhaar cards and bank passports."
