Port Blair, July 21: Troubled by corruption of name of places and its spellings, Andaman and Nicobar Islands has finally got ‘State Names Authority’ for standardization of names of various places and Islands and its spellings.
Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which was under the control of British and Japanese Forces before Independence of India, have many awkward names of Islands and places like Baratang, Jirkatang, Pottatang etc, meanings of which are not known to General Public.
Moreover, there are many Islands and places, which were named after British Rulers and Officers, much to the dismay of people of India.
To deal with this the Lt. Governor, A & N Islands, Lt. Gen (Retd.) A K Singh has recently constituted the ‘State Names Authority’ which will make recommendations on naming of roads, streets, parks, buildings etc, recommend installation of statues/memorials at sites belonging to the government/public, recommend names for new villages, townships or other geographical entities, invite historians, academicians or eminent citizen for discussion and research and investigate into the name of geographical entities in A & N Islands and standardization of their names and spellings.
The Lt. Governor will lead the Authority as Chairperson, while the Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary (Education), DGP, Commissioner-cum-Secretary (Power), Commissioner-cum-Secretary (Revenue), MD (ANIIDCO), Commissioner-cum-Secretary (PWD/UD), Secretary (Art and Culture), Chief Engineer-cum-Secretary (PWD), DC(South Andaman), DC (Nicobar), DC (North and Middle Andaman) and Town Planner will act as members and the Joint Secretary (UD) as Member Secretary of the body. Elected representatives like the Member of Parliament, Chairperson, PBMC, Adhyaksha, ZP, South Andaman, Adhyaksha, ZP, North and Middle Andaman, Chairman, Tribal Council and one eminent citizen nominated by the Lt. Governor will also function as member for the committee.
This is clear from the Administration’s order number 2357 dated 12, July 2013 that the committee lacks historians and Island history experts. A provision has been kept to nominate one eminent citizen in the committee, who will probably have no say as the committee will be dominated by Bureaucrats and Senior Officers. Hence General Public demands that instead of nominating only one eminent citizen the Lt. Governor should nominated atleast five eminent citizens, who have deep knowledge of Andaman’s History. There is also a need include a few prominent Historians in the committee who have deep knowledge about Andaman’s Glorious past.
