ANANTAPUR: Thanks to a major initiative taken by district collector Gandham Chandrudu, almost 480 localities which had caste inspired names like Dalit colonies have been rechristened. Anantapur now boasts of Viswarathna Nagar, Ferror Nagar, while RDT Nagar replaces the earlier name of Harijana Wada.
It may be noted that the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment issued fresh guidelines with instructions to do away with the word harijan. The committee also sought renaming of colonies that had Harijana Wada, Girijana Wada, Dalit Wada and such other names. The committee found many colonies and areas with boards as harijans and girijans.
“We changed names for more than 480 colonies and areas in the district soon after the directions from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment”, Chandrudu said.
The Dalita Wada near RDT area was named RDT Colony in honour of the NGO that works for the people of the district. Thus, there are now names like of RDT founder Ferror, Jagjeevanram Nagar and Indira Nagar.
Interestingly, Maharashtra government cleared a proposal to rename residential areas in the state having caste-based names two days ago. The government chose to rename localities to maintain social harmony and national unity.
The Anantapur district administration is about to complete renaming of colonies, including schools and other offices.
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