Pleas to 'decolonise' Delhi roads come from UP, Haryana

NEW DELHI: Demands to “decolonise” Lutyens’ Delhi by changing the nomenclature of roads like the ones named after British administrator lord Dalhousie and emperor Akbar are inundating the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC).

The guidelines of the agency that reports to the home ministry state that existing streets or roads should not be redesignated since “they not only create confusion for the post offices and public but also deprive the most of a sense of history”. Union minister D V Sadananda Gowda wants a road named after famous Kannada poet Kuppali Venkatappa Puttappa. Uttar Pradesh BJP chief and MP Keshav Prasad Maurya wants a road named ‘Deshbhakt/Patriots’. Haryana-based Rashtriya Yodha Smarak Samiti wants Akbar Road renamed ‘Samrat Hemchandra Vikramaditya’. The buzz around Tughlak Road is that three proposals have been sent to change its moniker to ‘Bajirao Marg’, ‘Ch. Charan Singh Road’ or ‘Shaheed Abdul Hameed Marg’. But no decisions have been taken on the 21 proposals pending before the NDMC.