CHENNAI: The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has begun enumerating street boards within Corporation limits to identify and remove caste references. The initiative follows a directive from the Social Justice Department calling for the removal or renaming of caste names attached to residential areas, streets, roads, water bodies, and revenue villages across all local bodies in Tamil Nadu.
To implement the change, the State Government issued a GO 313 through the Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department on October 6, which outlines guidelines for removing or changing public names that denote caste or promote social discrimination.
The letter from the Social Justice Department asked the Corporation to inspect public infrastructure and take appropriate corrective action. Meanwhile, a State-Level Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Joseph Vijay, is scheduled to take place soon to review progress.
A GCC official stated, “As per the directive, we have instructed officials to audit streets and submit a zone-wise report. Around 77 street names with caste references have been identified across the Kodambakkam, Valasaravakkam, and Adyar zones, with reports from the remaining zones awaited.”
According to the guidelines, if a caste title appears as a suffix, only the suffix will be removed. If the entire street name centres on a caste, it will be completely renamed. Examples of streets currently under review include Gengu Reddy Road, Brahmin Street, Vanniyar Street, Reddy Street, and Dr Nair Road in the Kodambakkam zone.
The State Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front (TNUEF), K Veni, said, “The TNUEF welcomes the initiative to enumerate street names containing caste references, as our state is known for its commitment to social justice compared to others in the country. While the previous government suggested alternatives for street names with caste references, it failed to include leaders like Dr BR Ambedkar and M Singaravelar, who fought tirelessly for social justice. We submitted a representation to the government to add their names to the list, and the new administration must now ensure their names are included in the revised list.”
Some streets have already changed. For instance, GN Chetty Road was renamed Gopathy Narayanan Road, and Srinivasa Iyer Street and Balakrishna Naicken Street in West Mambalam were shortened to Srinivasa (I) Street and Balakrishna (N) Street, the official added.