PMK urges Admn to withdraw order retaining Pondicherry name

Puducherry, Oct 2 (UNI) PMK Parliamentary Party Leader Prof M Ramadoss today urged the administration to withdraw the order retaining the name of the town as Pondicherry.

In a statement here, he said the approval of Parliament to change the name of the Union Territory as Puducherry was given on the basis of a unanimous resolution adopted in the Legislative Assembly here in 1980 and the pressure exerted on the Union Government by the subsequent governments here.

Now, retaining the name of the town as Pondicherry amounted to defeating the Parliamentary act, he said.

Prof Ramadass said renaming the Union Territory as Puducherry was a victory to classical Tamil. While the name of Madras was changed to Chennai, Bombay to Mumbai and Calcutta to Kolkata, why should the Government want to retain the name as Pondicherry, he asked.

He said it appeared in a section of the press here that the decision was taken due to the compulsions of Legislators.

Prof Ramadass demanded that the Chief Minister reveal the names of the Legislators who preferred the name as Pondicherry.

He claimed that the officials in the Home Ministry informed him that a decision to this effect was taken at a Cabinet meeting and the concurrence of the ministry obtained later.

If so, the Chief Minister should state in which Cabinet meeting the decision was taken, he added.

UNI