The Uttar Pradesh town of Aligarh may soon lose its name to Harigarh after the Zila Panchayat of Aligarh on Monday passed a resolution seeking to rename the city, which members claimed, was a long-pending demand. The proposal was unanimously ratified in the first meeting of the panchayat with 50 out of 72 members in attendance.
“For a long time, people had demanded Aligarh be renamed as Harigarh. The Zila Panchayat approved the proposal unopposed. It would now be forwarded to the state government for approval,” said Vijay Singh, Zila panchayat chairman for Aligarh.
Besides, a proposal was also passed to name the airport of Aligarh after BJP leader Kalyan Singh, who was the resident of the ‘Lock City’ and the chief minister of the state during the Ram Janmabhoomi movement when the controversial Babri structure was levelled to the ground in Ayodhya.
In addition to Aligarh, the Zila Panchayat of Mainpuri also passed a resolution seeking to rechristen the town as Mayan Nagar, after sage Mainpuri who founded the present day Mainpuri, members said.
“One of the members moved the proposal to rename Maiunpuri to Mayan Nagar. The proposal was passed on Monday with 23 members supporting the motion and two opposing it,” said Archana Bhadoria, Zila panchayat chairperson of Mainpuri.
It is worth noting that Mainpuri is the stronghold of Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, who had won five elections from the constituency.
Earlier this month, a similar proposal to rename Firozabad to Chandra Nagar was passed by the Firozabad district panchayat. According to locals, King Chandrasen lived in Firozabad and because it was earlier known as Chandravar Nagar till about 1560 AD, the city should be renamed Chandra Nagar.
“The city was renamed to Firozabad after a representative of emperor Akbar, Firoz Shah, visited the area. The demand to rename Firozabad as Chandra Nagar has been raised time and again” said a local.
