Bengaluru: The newly delimited 243 wards of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) were announced by the State Government on Thursday June 23. The civic body added 45 new wards within the existing area, bringing the total number of wards from 198 to 243.
The government received the draft report from the Ward Delimitation Committee, which was led by the BBMP Chief Commissioner on June 9. The committee was tasked to redraw ward boundaries based on population data from the 2011 Census. The State Government has announced that it has accepted the draft report and encouraged citizens or institutions to send their objections and suggestions within 15 days.
In the draft it can be noticed that the majority of the wards have been given their locality’s name, however, others have been given the names of religious figures, well-known personalities, and even films. They are Veermandakari (39), Chanakya (39), Chatrapati Shivaji (40), Ranadheera Kanteevara (43), Veera Sindhura Lakshmana (44), Jayachama Rajendranagar (73), Modi Garden (77), Devaraj Urs Nagar (77), Uma Maheshwari Ward (201) and Deen Dayalu Ward (208).
Through social media platforms, many people have expressed their discontentment over the new names proposed by BBMP after historical persons who have no relation to the place.
Udaya Kumar P. L. has shared a Facebook post stating that he has sent a proposal to name wards based on the names of historic villages within the ward. “A place is far greater than any one individual. But when deification is the norm, you come up with names of individuals for the city’s wards like what the BBMP has proposed for Bengaluru. I had submitted a proposal to the BBMP to name wards based on the names of historic villages within the ward. But the people at the helm have chosen to ignore history and use names of people unrelated to a place,” he added.
In the proposal, he also states that a study of the 198 wards shows that the city has 41 places that can be used to give ward names. He had recommended that in this delimitation exercise, wherever a historic place name is accessible from within the ward, the ward name be that. He also shared the images of the proposal giving the names of over 20 wards that already reflect historic places within the ward.
Uday Kumar further states that a thorough examination of historical records shows that, of the remaining 168 wards, 21 of them have a historic place that people still use even today as recorded in centuries-old inscriptions. “I, therefore, propose that the following ward names be replaced with a more historically significant place name from within the ward,” he added. He also posted a picture with the list of these ward names both current and proposed along with the name of the reference document.
“It’s important that the names should be associated to the local history and people,” was a comment from a user.
Another person commented that politicians and a majority of citizens do not care about history and culture preservation.
