The Kakinada Municipal Council’s decision to rename Mahatma Jyotirao Phule street after Municipal Commissioner Swapnil Dinakar has been opposed by a section of people.
On Saturday, the council meeting approved it following a proposal made by city MLA Dwarampudi Chandrasekhar Reddy.
Mayor Sunkara Siva Prasanna said that the council had taken Mr. Reddy’s proposal as ‘suo moto’ and it was accepted by the council members.
Phule street has nearly 260 households, a majority of them thatched houses, and is one of the poorest colonies in the city.
During the previous government, many families had shifted to the street from the site where the TIDCO (AP Township and Infrastructure Development Corporation) had developed a township during 2014-19.
Kakinada Poura Samkshema Sangham activist Doosarlapudi Ramanaraju condemned the council’s decision on renaming Phule street. “The council should consult the citizens or the dwellers of the street. It should reconsider its decision to change the name of a street that was named after social reformer Jyotirao Phule,” said Mr. Ramanaraju.
Mr. Swapnil is the first IAS officer appointed as a full-time Commissioner of the KMC. He shot to fame with his initiatives on solid waste management in the city. EOM
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