Lucknow's famous 'Hazratganj Chauraha' to be renamed as 'Atal Chowk' in reminisces of Atal Bihari Vajpayee

NewsBharati    10-Sep-2018
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Lucknow, September 10: Keeping the presence of Atal Bihari Vajpayee alive among all, the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to rename Lucknow's famous 'Hazratganj Chauraha' after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee as 'Atal Chowk'.

City mayor Sanyukta Bhatia on Friday informed the media, “A number of councilors were demanding different roads and roundabouts be named after Atal Bihari Vajpayee. However, we were looking for something grand enough to fit the stature of the former prime minister. Hence, it has been decided that most prominent and biggest intersection of Lucknow, which is also referred as the heart of the city - 'Hazratganj Chaurha' will be named after Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee.”

The city mayor further informed that they will also build a memorial for the late veteran leader, who was a five-time Member of Parliament (MP) from Lucknow. Apart from this to conserve the memories of Atalji, the committee has prepared a draft for developing a memorial for him named 'Atal Smriti Upvan’.

In this memorial, Sanyukta Bhatia said that they have planned to place his statue along with his 51 poems, speeches and other memorabilia. We have already started a process for identifying land for this memorial. Earlier, several states announced to rename some places after Vajpayee in order to pay homage to the leader.

On 21 August, the Chhattisgarh government announced to rename Naya Raipur as Atal Nagar. Besides this, the BJP-ruled state also decided to rename few other places and institutions after his name. The Jharkhand government also renamed several places and colleges after Vajpayee's name. Sahibganj Harbour was renamed as Atal Bihari Vajpayee Harbour Sahibganj. Medical College Palamu and Professional College Jamshedpur were renamed as Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical College, Palamu and Atal Bihari Vajpayee Professional College, Jamshedpur respectively.

The 93-year-old leader passed away on 16 August at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi after a period of prolonged illness.