Forget Bangalore; it will become Bengaluru soon

Forget Bangalore; it will become Bengaluru soon

Special Correspondent

Anglicised names of 12 other cities, towns too will change

Names likely to be changed in about a week

Union Home Ministry set to forward clearances

Bangalore: Bangalore will soon become Bengaluru. The anglicised names of 13 cities and towns in the State, including Bangalore, are expected to be changed in about a week.

Disclosing this to pressperson here on Friday, Kannada and Culture Minister H.S. Mahadeva Prasad said all the Central agencies and Union Ministries concerned had approved the proposal and sent their clearances to the Union Home Ministry. The Home Ministry was expected to forward the clearances to the State Government any time now, he said.

Once that was done, the State Cabinet would formally approve the new names, he explained.

The idea was first suggested when N. Dharam Singh was the Chief Minister. His successor, H.D. Kumaraswamy, made a formal announcement during the golden jubilee celebrations of the State’s formation on November 1, 2006. The proposal to change the names of the cities and towns was forwarded to the Union Home Ministry in October 2006 itself.
Other cities

Other cities whose anglicised names will change include Mysore, Mangalore, Hubli, Belgaum, Gulbarga, Shimoga, Bellary and Hospet.

Mr. Prasad was unhappy with Maharashtra objecting to the move to rename the border district of Belgaum as Belagavi. Changing names of cities and towns was the prerogative of the States concerned. Permission from the Centre was only a formality, he said.

The Minister asserted that the world Kannada meet, scheduled to be held in September in Belgaum, would not be postponed again. The Chief Minister would hold a meeting on Monday to finalise the dates for the meet.