Name change

Singh was one of the prime movers behind the renaming of Allahabad, writing to both chief minister, Yogi Adityanath, and Governor, Ram Naik, on the issue.

Some Hindu organisations say Mughal or British rulers strategically changed the names of many towns to target Indian culture. “We are not against anybody. Our freedom fighters laid down their lives to win Independence. Many towns have names after Mughal rulers. It is high time our cities got back their ancient names and identity,” said Shivdash, a senior leader of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the man in charge of work at Karsevakpuram (where pieces of the Ram temple are being made in anticipation of the day either the courts or a law make it possible to construct one) in Ayodhya. “Names that are symbols of slavery should be named after patriots,” said Prabhu Narain, Awadh Prant Sanghchalak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

In August this year, the Yogi government had renamed Mughalsarai city and railway junction after BJP ideologue, Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyay. Then came the recent name change of Allahabad.

S Farman Naqvi, an advocate and a resident of Allahabad, said: “Chief minister Yogi Adityanath renamed Allahabad as Prayagraj only in five days. After the Board of Revenue passed a resolution on the issue on October 15, the state cabinet cleared it the next day. The state government notified change of name on October 18 and the district magistrate did so on October 20.”

“Local people were not consulted on the issue. This means someone sitting at a far off place decided the future of the people of Allahabad. The CM recently changed the name of Urdu Bazar in Gorakhpur to Hindi Bazar. He is obviously pushing a communal agenda,” he added.

This is not the first time that the governments are indulging in politics of name change. In the last two decades, successive state governments have changed the names of i nstitutions, schemes/projects and districts.

The Samajwadi Party government in 2012 decided to reverse a number of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government’s decisions on names. It restored the name of King George Medical University that was renamed as Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University by the Mayawati-led BSP government.

The original names of eight districts, named after BSP ideologues by Mayawati, were also restored. include a ban on all civil construction and excavation activities in the entire National Capital Region between November 1 and 10; a closure of coal and biomass based industries (excluding thermal power plants and waste to energy plants) between November 4 and November 10; and an intensification of efforts by the traffic police and transport department to check visibly polluting vehicles and reduce traffic jams in Delhi.

“We are also requesting and recommending that the public minimize their exposure and cut down the use of private vehicles, particularly diesel vehicles, during the first ten days of November,” said Gargava. “We have not yet received the recommendations. EPCA will take the call once the task force’s recommendations reach the EPCA chairman’s office,” said Sunita Narain, member of EPCA.

Dr TK Joshi, who is the health expert of the CPCB task force, said: “Any form of strenuous exercise including jogging at more than 5 km per hour should be avoided during this period. People should also try to avoid other forms of pollution such as burning incense sticks and mosquito coils indoors.”

The city’s Air Quality Index (AQI) value was already at 328 on Wednesday. On Thursday it shot up to 331 and on Friday it deteriorated further to 361. On a scale of 0 – 500, an AQI value between 301 and 400 indicates very poor air quality. A value beyond 401 indicates severe pollution.

“The primary pollutants in Delhi’s air – PM10 and PM2.5 – have also shot up alarmingly. At 7 pm on Friday, PM10 level shot up to 384ug/m3 which is 3.8 times above the safe limits of 100ug/ m3. The ultrafine particles PM2.5 shot up to 198ug/m3, which was 3.3 times above the permissible limit of 60ug/m3. This is likely to shoot up further over the next two days as pollutants are not being dispersed because the present spell of unfavaourable weather conditions are unlikely to change,” said a CPCB official.

EPCA warned on Thursday that from November 1, the wind is expected to change its direction and blow from the west and northwest directions bringing in fumes and pollutants from stubble burning regions of Punjab and Haryana. “At present it is blowing from south east and east direction. But still at least 20% – 30% of the pollutants are coming from those two states. It will rise once the wind direction changes,” said a CPCB official.

In November 2016, the national capital saw high levels of pollution around Diwali and the worst smog in 17 years. In 2017, it was again engulfed in a thick haze as the air quality remained ‘severe’ for almost a week. The Air Quality Index (AQI) value had touched 486 on November 9, 2017. Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal compared Delhi with a ‘gas chamber’ and schools shut down.