The Chennai Corporation has started renaming roads after institutions located on the stretches, giving up its fascination for historic figures by whose name these roads have come to be known.
In a resolution passed by the Corporation Special Officer’s Council, Frazer Bridge Road in George Town has been renamed TNPSC Road.
“The new building of Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission was constructed on a piece of land on the road a few years ago. Thousands of candidates who visit TNPSC from other parts of the State may benefit from the change of name,” an official of the Chennai Corporation said.
Pointing to the social significance of the constitution of the Madras Public Service Commission in 1929, the TNPSC had resolved to demand the State government in November 2016 to rename the road.
Montieth Road at Egmore has been renamed Red Cross Road following a request by a former Governor of the State.
The Corporation will change the name board of the roads shortly.
According to historian V. Sriram, the names of the streets have been around for 250 years.
“Montieth Road existed in 1798. It is totally wrong to change a name. There is no purpose in renaming a road,” he said.
“How can the Corporation change the name when there is no elected council. Perhaps they should focus on first cleaning up Fraser Bridge Road. It is dirty,” he added.
William Montieth was with the Madras Army and Frazer was a Mayor of Madras, said Mr. Sriram.
The previous initiative of the Corporation to rename 50 roads after foreigners failed to take off during the DMK regime and the AIADMK regime.
The proposal of former Mayors Ma. Subramanian of the DMK and Saidai Duraisamy of the AIADMK proposed to rename stretches was not implemented.
Recognising the European contributors to Tamil, stretches such as Ellis Road were dropped from the list as the person had translated Thirukkural.
Some of the important roads identified for renaming during the DMK regime include Haddows Road, Harrington Road, Sterling Road and Montieth Road.
