Amrik Singh Road renamed as Maharaja Agrasen Road

Bharat Khanna

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, October 1

Struggling to get the name of a local street changed, the Aggrawal community has finally got success with the name of Amrik Singh Road being changed to Maharaja Agrasen Road and signboards to this effect being put on display.

Some of the old signboards have been changed with new ones carrying the changed name and many others in the process of being replaced. The name was changed a few years back and now the new boards are being installed at various places. “The installation has been done at several places,” said Kailash Garg, a member of the Aggrawal Sabha, Bathinda.

It’s noteworthy that the MCB had given its nod to change the names during a general house meeting on July 27, 2012. It was only after some former councillors and residents appealed to the MCB to act that the civic body swung into action and changed the names.

In 2014-15, a Municipal Corporation passed the resolution and changed the names of various streets in Bathinda. The names of a number of streets and markets were changed in Bathinda in the last two years. Dhobi Bazaar is now Dr Radha Krishnan Marg, Afeem Wali Gali is Jain Sreet, Tinkoni Chowk is now known as Baba Namdev Chowk, Kikar Bazaar as Mahavir Marg, Ganesha Basti as Ganesh Nagar and Chandsar Basti as Chandsar Nagar.

Vimal Jain, a resident of Jain who fought long legal battle to get the name of his street changed, said, “I was satisfied after the name was changed as it was like defaming us. The opium trade was carried out during the British Raj, but the tag remains.”

If legends are to be believed, Dhobi Bazaar was so named because of three shops of dhobis (washermen) in the area. Those shops are nowhere to be seen in the market now. Similarly, Kikar Bazaar got its name from a huge kikar tree in the area which was often used as a landmark by the people to direct someone. Sirki Bazaar became popular by the name since it had shops where sirkis (cane roofs) were made while Afeem Wali Gali was named after the shop that sold “afeem” (opium) during the British rule and Amrik Singh Road was named after a person.

Joint Commissioner, MCB, KK Goyal said, “The names were changed a long time back. However, it was implemented only two years back. Signboards are on display at various places. I would not be able to tell before Monday the exact date when the names of these streets were changed.”

“What is in a name? Politicians can tell better as the change of name of streets and chowks can please several communities. There have been several cases where communities have been satisfied with the change of name of public streets, chowks and other places. This is a new kind of satisfaction being provided by politicians. The marketing of such demands is made by local level politicians and then such demands are met. People should understand that national highways or public chowks or other places in the name of their leaders, or other respected dignitaries or idols, would not change the crisis being faced by the people of Punjab, including unemployment, suicides by farmers and labourers, agricultural crisis or downfall of government-run educational and health services in the state,” said local resident Mandeep Singh.

Recently, in Budhlada town of Mansa district, members of the Mazdoor Mukti Morcha and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) protested and halted the construction of a chowk in the name of Hit Abhilashi and demanded that it should be constructed in the name of Dr BR Ambedkar along with a statue of Baba Saheb.

A similar case was seen in a village of Bathinda where Dera followers welcomed the move to change the name of village Kotli Kalan to ‘Prem-Kotli’.

However, many other villagers protested the changing of the name.