Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has given its approval to the Uttar Pradesh government to change the name of Gorakhpur district’s ‘Mundera Baazar’ municipal council to ‘Chauri Chaura’ and Deoria district’s ‘Telia Afghan’ village to ‘Telia Shukla’.
The Ministry gave the approval on October 6, on recommendations of the Uttar Pradesh government following due procedure, sources said on Tuesday. A ‘no-objection’ certificate has also been provided to the Uttar Pradesh government allowing it to change the name of the municipal council ‘Mundera Baazar’ in Gorakhpur district to ‘Chauri-Chaura’ and that of ‘Telia Afghan’ village in Deoria district to ‘Telia Shukla’, the source added.
MHA considers proposals from states for renaming particular places according to the existing guidelines and in consultations with the agencies concerned. The Ministry further gives its ‘no-objection’ certificate to change the name of a particular place.
It gives the approval the change of name of any place after taking no objections from the Ministry of Railways, Department of Posts and Survey of India. These organisations have to confirm that there is no such city, town or village in their records with a name similar to the proposed one.
For changing the name of a village or town or city, an executive order is needed. The renaming of a state requires an amendment of the Constitution with a simple majority in Parliament.
In 2020, the MHA approved the renaming of the Manduadih railway station in Uttar Pradesh as ‘Banaras’ following a request from the state government. Similarly in 2019, the MHA had approved the renaming of Allahabad as Prayagraj as sought by the Uttar Pradesh government.