Residents and activists ask questions about renaming streets

Activists have raised questions over the state government's decision to remove mention of caste from street names. They say changing addresses on various cards, including Aadhaar, voter ID, family cards, government health insurance cards and community certificates, would be time-consuming.

Suresh, a fisherman from Irular colony in Sadayankuppam in Manali, said the area was originally named after Govinda Perumal, the temple deity, and later after another deity, Gangai Amman. After the 2015 floods, several Irular families settled there, after which the place became known as Irular Colony. “We do not know if this name will be changed and if so, we are not sure what changes should be made in official documents. Will this affect our children's school or college admissions? Will property ownership be affected? Will this affect voting? Many such questions remain unanswered,” he said.

S. Vishanth of Ennore Solidarity Group said awareness and relief camps, similar to Ungaludan Stalin, should be organized by the state government to proactively address such concerns.

Consumer activist T. Sadagopan said that in urban environments where street names were used as addresses, name changes would only cause problems.

“We use official documents such as proof of address and identity proofs. If the updates in the turnover data are not done properly, it can lead to problems in property settlement. Even minor mistakes can cause problems in the future. Such changes should be made only if absolutely necessary,” he said.

Member of Parliament D. Ravikumar said the government's decision was not a political move but a necessary step to prevent people from being insulted over caste names. “It was former Chief Minister MG Ramachandran who first issued a GO to remove caste names from street names in 1978. It was implemented then, but slowly people forgot about it and caste names started appearing again,” he said.

In 2018, the Madras High Court directed the government to implement that order. “When the DMK government came to power in 2021, our party had again proposed that caste names be removed from street names as they are included in Aadhar cards and passports and the caste identity of people is spread across the world,” he said.