Chennai, August 19
The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has begun a citywide survey of street nameboards as part of an initiative to remove caste references from public places and promote social equality.
Officials in all 15 Corporation zones have been instructed to inspect street names and submit detailed reports. Around 77 streets with caste-related names have so far been identified in the Kodambakkam, Valasaravakkam and Adyar zones. Reports from the other zones are awaited.
The exercise follows a directive from the Tamil Nadu Social Justice Department seeking the removal or modification of caste references in the names of residential areas, streets, roads, water bodies and revenue villages administered by local bodies.
The Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department had earlier issued Government Order 313, setting out guidelines for renaming public places whose names indicate caste identities or encourage social discrimination.
Under the guidelines, only the caste suffix will be deleted when it appears as part of a person’s name. Streets named entirely after a caste will be assigned new names. Officials said each proposal would be examined before receiving formal approval.
Names under review in the Kodambakkam zone include Gengu Reddy Road, Brahmin Street, Vanniyar Street, Reddy Street and Dr Nair Road.
The initiative is expected to be reviewed shortly by the State-Level Vigilance and Monitoring Committee, chaired by Chief Minister Joseph Vijay.
Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front State secretary K. Veni welcomed the drive and urged the government to name some of the streets after social reformers, including Dr B.R. Ambedkar and M. Singaravelar.
Chennai has witnessed similar changes earlier. G.N. Chetty Road was renamed Gopathy Narayanan Road, while Srinivasa Iyer Street and Balakrishna Naicken Street in West Mambalam were shortened to Srinivasa (I) Street and Balakrishna (N) Street, respectively.
