Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government today announced the renaming of three Metro Rail stations after late Chief Ministers (CM) CN Annadurai, MG Ramachandran and J. Jayalalithaa.
Chief Minister K Palaniswami said the stations have been renamed after the state government accepted the recommendations of a high-level committee and now will be as following:
- Alandur metro station renamed as Arignar Anna Alandur metro
- Central metro station renamed as Puratchi Thalaivar Dr.M.G.Ramachandran central metro
- CMBT suburban metro station renamed as Puratchi Thalaivi Jayalalitha CMBT metro
He also listed out the steps taken by the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government under Jayalalithaa in implementing the Metro Rail project in the city.
On the second phase of Chennai Metro Rail, the chief minister said the Rs 61,843 crore project comprises three corridors: Madhavaram to SIPCOT, Light House to Poonamallee and Madhavaram to Sholinganallur, spanning 118.9 km.
"The state government has passed orders and we are currently awaiting Central nod and funding," he added.
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Annadurai, Dravidian political icon served as CM during 1967-1969. M.G.Ramachandran, founder of the party All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (ADMK) served as CM during 1977-87. Meanwhile, J.Jayalalitha, former general secretary of ADMK from 1989-2016 served as CM over 14 years.
Before this, the state government had rolled back its order of renaming/changing spellings of over 1,000 places in June following criticism from many language experts, historians and Tamilians.
