Karnal dips into Mahabharata, renames seven gates

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, June 13

The Karnal Municipal Corporation (MC) on Thursday renamed seven historical gates after Mahabharata characters.

At a meeting chaired by Renu Bala Gupta, mayor, 18 out of 20 councillors passed the resolution. Two councillors suggested that the existing names should be retained and the new ones should be written in bracket.

“We have taken this step to make the new generation aware of our warriors and historical characters,” said the mayor.

She said before renaming these gates, they had conducted a survey and spoken to people. A majority of people gave their consent for renaming these gates, she said.

She said that in the 1950s, the gates were known by the names of Mahabharata characters. Now, Kalandri Gate would be Krishna Dwar, Karan Gate Karan Dwar, Subhash Gate Sehdev Dwar, Banso Gate Bhim Dwar, Dyalpura Gate Nakul Dwar, Jundla Gate Yudhishtira Dwar, and Arjun Gate Arjun Dwar.

“We have suggested the House to write the existing names next to the new ones in bracket so as to avoid confusion,” said councillors Yudhvir Saini, Ish Gulati and Ram Kumar.

Residents have hailed the decision. Satish Kumar and Vinod Kumar, residents of Kalandri Gate, said it was a welcomed move, which would make the new generation aware of the Mahabharata.

Besides, the House also gave consent to name one of the chowks on the dividing road of Sector 6 and 7 as Prajapati Brahma Kumari.

Meanwhile, the House has constituted a committee for shifting dairies out of the city, which has been a long-pending issue. It also passed a resolution to decide a piece of land for the construction of a dog shelter. The mayor said the House also gave consent for cement benches in all 20 wards and open air gyms in all wards.

Meanwhile, councillors raised the issue of supply of filthy water in their colonies. Predicting a stormy session, the authorities did not allow mediapersons in the House.

Asha Wadhwa, who had unsuccessfully contested the mayor election, said the House had ignored development works. No new development agenda was raised at the meeting.