Leaders of the Opposition in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) moved a resolution in the house of the corporation, demanding that the south Mumbai road, named after former president of Israel Shimon Peres should be changed.
On February 12, the FPJ had reported that a junction between Kala Ghoda Chowk and Sai Baba Marg in South Mumbai has been named, 'Shimon Pares Chowk', in honour of the former Israeli president and Nobel peace prize laureate. Following which, group leaders of the opposition party expressed their displeasure on the issue and demanded that the chowk should be renamed after an Indian national.
Makarand Narwekar senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) corporator had told FPJ that being the chairperson of the ward committee, he had initiated the proposal of naming the chowk after Peres.
"In Israel there are roads and junctions named after Netaji Shubhash Chandra Bose, so I don't see any problem in renaming a junction after former Israeli president who is also a Nobel laureate," said Narwekar.
Earlier in March, Rais Shaikh - Samajwadi Party (SP) legislator and corporator from Nagpada had filed resolution demanding the civic body to change the name of the street. The matter is due for discussion on April 23 (Friday) where all the 227 corporator members in the house will vote for or against the resolution.
"Now it's up to the Shiv Sena which side they will choose to vote, Mr. Peres has made no contribution towards building the socio-economic outlook of the state, hence it is not appropriate to rename a street after him," Shaikh told FPJ.
Ravi Raja, senior Congress corporator and Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the BMC has said that BMC's move to rename the road contradicts its own policies.
"As per the law the BMC can only rename a public place after Indian nationals or residents of the state who have contributed towards Maharashtra in a positive way, renaming the road after a foreign dignitary is unjustified," Raja told FPJ.
According to the Mumbai Municipal Corporation (MMC) act only the local municipal corporator has the authority to propose the name for any junction or street in their area. However local Shiv Sena corporator Sujata Sanap told FPJ that she didn't propose the idea of renaming the road.
However senior civic officials of the local ward office said that orders of renaming the road had come from former municipal commissioner - Praveen Pardeshi's office.
Meanwhile leaders of the Shiv Sena refrained from saying what will be their stand during the voting on Friday.
"The final stand will be taken during the voting on Friday and we cannot reveal our motive before that," said a senior Sena leader requesting anonymity.
