Mysuru: Even after two years of Karnataka government notifying changes in the names of 12 cities of the state including Mysuru, the names of most of the establishments especially the state government offices have not been changed from Mysore to Mysuru.
According to the notification which was issued on October 31, 2014, Mangalore should be called Mangaluru, Bellary as Ballari, Bijapur as Vijayapura, Belgaum as Belagavi, Chikmangaluru as Chikkamagaluru, Gulbarga as Kalaburagi, Hospet as Hosapete, Shimoga as Shivamogga, Hubli as Huballi and Tumkur as Tumakuru. Popular cultural personalities including late UR Ananthamurthy and Girish Karnad were amongst the proponents of reverting to the popular Kannada names of the cities. Their contention was that locals referred to these cities with their Kannada names only. This was followed after the clearance was received from Union Home Minister to the proposal made by the state government way back in 2006. But, unfortunately most of the state government offices itself are not following the government notification. Surprisingly no pro-Kannada activists have raised their voice on this issue.
Most of the state government offices including Police Commissioner Office, Mysuru Palace, Government Ayurveda Medical College Hospital, Irrigation department, office of the Superintending Engineer Irrigation Investigation Circle, even after two years, have not changed name from Mysore to Mysuru. Apart from state government offices, the situation is almost the same in most of the central government offices and private establishments.
D Randeep, Deputy Commissioner, Mysuru district said “When I was Deputy Commissioner of Vijayapura, most of the government offices didn’t change the name from Bijapur to Vijayapura, but soon after taking charge as the Deputy Commissioner, I issued circular and names of 90 of the establishments were changed from Bijapur to Vijapura. Such initiatives will be taken in Mysuru too. I will issue circular on these lines at the earliest.”
When this was brought to the notice of Ajay Shastri, President, Jaya Karnataka (Youth Wing), he said that it was indeed an insult to Kannada.
“We will submit memorandum to Deputy Commissioner D Randeep on Wednesday requesting him to take suitable steps in this regard and set an ultimatum of ten days to ensure that the name is changed from Mysore to Mysuru,” he said adding that the organisation members will go painting boards with Mysore with black paints.
