District local bodies of Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh and Mainpuri have passed resolutions to change the names of the districts to Harigarh and Mayan Nagar, respectively, Hindustan Times has reported.
The name change was a “long-pending demand”, the local bodies have claimed.
The Aligarh zila parishad on August 16 passed a resolution to rename the district as Harigarh, with 50 of 72 council members participating in the vote, the report said.
Chairman Vijay Singh told the paper the decision was approved “unopposed” and would be forwarded to the state government for approval.
The council has also passed a proposal to rename Aligarh airport after former chief minister and senior BJP leader Kalyan Singh. Singh, who has been ailing for some time, was the chief minister during the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation.
The BJP-led Mainpuri Zila Panchayat, too, on August 16 passed a resolution seeking to rename the district as Mayan Nagar after sage Mayan who is believed to have founded the city, the report said. Mainpuri is the considered the bastion of Samjwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Panchayat Chairperson Archana Bhadoria told the newpaper the proposal was passed during its first meeting, with 23 members supporting the motion and two opposing it.
Earlier this month, the Firozabad district panchayat passed a resolution demanding the city be renamed Chandra Nagar after King Chandrasen who locals believed lived there. They claimed it was known as Chandravar Nagar till 1560 AD when Emperor Akbar’s representative Firoz Shah visited the area and named it after himself.