The change of name of the city from Mangalore to Mangaluru — effective from Saturday — is expected to be a smooth affair, even as entities such as Mangalore International Airport may take about three months to switch over.
Union government entities, which have their signboards in English, may entail more cost than State government units, most of which have their names written in Kannada and need not change.
Many boards in the city, including that of Mangalore City Corporation, will have to be changed and it could happen in the days to come.
Deputy Commissioner A.B. Ibrahim said that the gazette notification on name change has come. But it would not have any big impact on the district administration as most official correspondences are in Kannada. On officially changing the name of Mangalore City Corporation, he said an order has to come from the State government.
Southern Railway would replace the name boards of Mangalore Central and Mangalore Junction railway stations as soon as it gets the copy of the notification, said Divisional Railway Manager Anand Prakash.
However, codes of stations, on which the Railways technically depend upon, would remain the same — MAQ for Mangalore Central and MAJN for Mangalore Junction, he said. Also, wherever the name Mangalore appears, the same would have to be replaced with Mangaluru in a phased manner, Mr. Prakash added.
Director of the airport J.T. Radhakrishna said that the airport would have to abide by the State government notification and it need not obtain the permission of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) from Delhi for changing the name. He said that the airlines are expected to mention both the names in their tickets with an oblique — Mangalore/Mangaluru. After people get used to the new name, the old name can be deleted.
Mayor Mahabala Marla said that the change of name would not matter much for the local people. Tulu people already called it Kudla, people from neighbouring Kerala as Mangalapuram and Bearys as Maikala and Konkanis as Kudala.
The corporation would change the name after the government issued necessary orders.
Pradeep Kumar Kalkura, preisident, Dakshina Kannada Sahitya Parishat, said: “We should accept this change with pride. Public institutions should take steps at the earliest to change name boards.”
R. Hithendra, Police Commissioner, said: “We will act as instructed by the State government and make necessary administrative changes.”