Gurgaon city has now officially been renamed as Gurugram. More than six months after the process to rename the city was initiated, the Haryana Government has now issued a gazette notification to this effect.
However, the process to rename Gurgaon district is still in pipeline and it may take another week for it to be notified.
The notification to change the name of Gurgaon city had been sent for printing over a week ago after the Haryana Government got a No Objection Certificate from the Union Government in this regard earlier this month. However, the Haryana Cabinet approval to change the name of Gurgaon district came only on October 18 delaying the process to rename it. “We wanted to rename, both the city and the district, at the same time to avoid confusion. But the approval for the district came late. Now it has been sent to the legal department and the notification may takes a few more days after it is cleared by the said department,” said a senior Haryana Government official, not willing to be named.
It was in April this year that the Haryana Government had floated the proposal to rename Gurgaon as Gurugram based on the historic connect of the city with Guru Dhronacharya. The decision to change the name of Gurgaon had been taken on the basis of the representations received at several fora. The legend has it that the town derived its name from the name of Guru Dronacharya; the village was given as “gurudakshina” to him by his students; the Pandavas and hence it came to be known as Guru-gram, which in course of time got distorted to Gurgaon.
The decision of the government to change the name of the city, however, evoked mixed reactions. While the local BJP leaders welcomed the move, the rival political parties termed it a cosmetic measure and advised the government to better concentrate on improving the infrastructure in the city. The young, however, felt that the name did not go well with the reputation of the city and sounded old-fashioned.
Social activist Vinita Singh also started an online petition on Change.org, against the move arguing that the common citizens of Gurgaon were not consulted on this issue and demanded public consultation before approval of Haryana Cabinet on this matter.
