Cultural identity: Renaming of chowk after Singh ‘approved’

14 underpasses, three roads and two interchanges to be renamed.

LAHORE:

District Coordination Officer Noorul Amin Mengal has approved the renaming of 14 underpasses, three roads, two interchanges and Shadman’s Fawwara Chowk after historic figures.

The DCO had set up the Dilkash Lahore Committee – consisting of prominent architects, writers, artists and administrators – to recommend beautification measures for the city and select historic buildings for renewal, as well as suggest new names.

Members of the committee said that Mengal told them that previously, union councils had the power to approve new names and then advertise them in newspapers. However, under the current set-up, the DCO had the authority to approve the name changes, he said.

Dr Ajaz Anwar, a member of the committee, said that they had suggested names that people were familiar with. “It is not like the renaming of Empress Road to Shara-i-Sheikh Abdul Hameed Bin Badees,” he said

Rafay Alam, another committee member, said that all the committee members supported the idea of renaming Fawwara Chowk after Bhagat Singh, the freedom fighter hanged at the same spot almost a century ago. He said that the committee members wanted to acknowledge Singh’s struggle for freedom from British rule.

The committee suggested, and the DCO approved, the renaming of the underpass on Canal Bank Road at Muslim Town after Abdul Latif Bhittai; the Doctors’ Hospital underpass after Chaudhary Rehmat Ali; the Model Town Underpass (still under construction) after Faiz Ahmad Faiz; the Jinnah Hospital underpass after Chakare Azam (Mir Chakar) Rind; the Mall Road underpass after Bulleh Shah; the Dharampura underpass after Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy; the Mughalpura underpass after Habba Khatoon; the Harbanspura underpass after Jogendranath Mandal; the New Campus underpass after Khushhal Khan Khattak; the FC College underpass after Justice AR Cornelius; the Burki underpass after Col Mirza Hassan Khan Gilgiti; and the Jail Road underpass after Waris Shah.

The Babu Sabu Interchange would be renamed after Sadequain and the Mehmood Booti Interchange after Nusrat Fateh Ali. Fort Road would be renamed Maulana Azad Road, Katcheri Road would be renamed Patras Bokhari Road, and the road through Gaddafi Stadium after Hafeez Kardar.

The committee includes cartoonist Javed Iqbal, Salima Hashmi, Nayyar Ali Dada, Rameeza Nizami, Sohail Warraich, Badshahi Mosque Imam Dr Abdul Khabeer, Maulana Raghib Naeemi of Jamia Naeemia, Traffic Engineering and Planning Agency chief engineer Israr Saeed, Yousaf Salahuddin and the Parks and Horticulture Authority director general.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 15^th, 2012.