09-05-2025
Councillors seek intervention of Stalin in fulfilling residents' demand to rename key roads
:
A section of councillors in Chennai has sought the intervention of Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to rename certain roads in the city.
On Thursday, MDMK councillor S. Jeevan submitted an online representation to the Chief Minister's office, demanding that Triplicane High Road be renamed after Oviya Perunthagai Venugopal Sarma, the artist who created the universally accepted portrait of Tiruvalluvar.
'Oviya Perunthagai Venugopal Sarma painted the portrait of Tiruvalluvar — free from caste or religious bias and firmly rooted in Dravidian ideology — after doing meticulous research on Tirukkural. He lived near Triplicane High Road, on Besant Road. Despite my repeated appeals to rename Triplicane High Road in his honour, there has been no response from the Chennai Corporation Council,' Mr. Jeevan said.
'Both Anna and Kalaignar had deep admiration for the artist and his invaluable contribution to Dravidian art and culture,' he added.
DMK councillor T.V. Shemmozhi sought the installation of former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi's statue on Anna Nagar Second Avenue and the renaming of the stretch after Dravidian stalwart Perasiriyar K. Anbazhagan, who inculcated the younger generation with ideals of rationalism, based on extensive research of Tirukkural and other literary works.
'Thousands of young IAS aspirants, preparing for the civil services examination, throng the important stretch of Anna Nagar Second Avenue, because of the presence of a large number of coaching centres in the area. The renaming of the road will inspire the younger generation to learn about the great leaders of Dravidian ideology, which is crucial for peace, harmony, modernisation, growth and development of India,' Mr. Shemmozhi said.
AIADMK councillor J. John said: 'Many roads in Korattur are named after a particular caste of people who lived in the area several centuries ago. Now, residents of all castes live here in peace and harmony without social discrimination. So we request the State government to rename such roads after leaders who promoted social harmony,' Mr. John said.
The Council refused to permit the councillors to speak, whenever they tried to bring up the need for renaming the roads, claiming that the government had to take a decision, he said.
