Centre yet to clear Bengaluru

Centre yet to clear Bengaluru
Naheed Ataulla | TNN

Bangalore: Who’s speaking the truth on renaming of Bangalore? The CM or the Centre? On Aug 20, CM H D Kumaraswamy announced in Gulbarga that Union home ministry had sent him a letter approving renaming 12 cities barring Belgaum. But sources in the Centre claim that the file is still pending with the Union government.
Renaming of cities — an idea conceived in Dec 2005 with Bangalore set to become Bengaluru —- will have to wait for some more time and not happen “within a week” as claimed by the CM on August 20.
“Forget 12 cities getting the nod, the Centre recently sought a clarification from Karnataka government whether it wants to rename railway stations and post offices too. For this, the respective departments have to be consulted. Renaming will take time,’’ sources told The Times of India.
When contacted, Kannada and culture joint secretary C S S Sharma’s terse reply was: “There is such a proposal, but no orders have come.’’
Besides, the matter needs no ratification from the Karnataka cabinet as stated by Kumaraswamy. “The file was sent to the Centre six months ago and once the clearance comes, the names have to be gazetted and a copy of the notification sent to the Centre,’’ the sources said. Enquiries with the Union home ministry elicited a similar response. Sources said the Centre had laid down guidelines for renaming places: names should not hurt the sentiments of people, have political overtones or be already in use in some other state.
Asked about his assurance, the chief minister said on Thursday that Union home minister Shivraj Patil had committed to him on approving the renaming with a request not to insist on Belgaum.
NAME GAME
Dec 2005: Proposal to rename Bangalore comes up at a meeting of writers. Then CM Dharam Singh takes it up
Nov 1, 2006: CM H D Kumaraswamy adds more names. File goes to New Delhi with an assurance: it takes just 40 days for the name change
July 13, 2007: Kannada and culture minister M Mahadev Prasad says clearance has come and names of places will change within a week
July 20, 2007: Kumaraswamy, in an interview to TOI, chides Prasad for rushing through the announcement and admits it’s a long way off
Aug 20, 2007: CM says he has received a letter from Centre approving renaming for 12 cities barring Belgaum