Row over naming market after CM at Kotkapura
Tuesday, 16/12/2014
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/community/row-over-naming-market-after-cm-at-kotkapura/18634.html
Kotkapura (Faridkot) : The Kotkapura Improvement Trust has built a market in the name of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. Twenty-eight shop-cum-offices in the market, situated in the middle of the town, will be auctioned on December 23.
Huge signboards about “Sardar Parkash Singh Badal Market” have been put up at various locations in Kotkapura. Many feel the naming of a place or an institution after a leader is generally done after his/her demise.
Kulwant Singh Brar, Executive Officer (EO) of the Improvement Trust, Kotkapura, said the decision to name the market after Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was taken in 2001. The Improvement Trust passed a resolution to that effect and it was sent to the Local Bodies Department for approval. “We have received no objection against the move so far. If any such objection is received, the Improvement Trust can discuss it,” he said. Sources said the decision to name the market after the Chief Minister was taken by a group of local Akali leaders.
A senior Akali leader, however, said, “If there can be a park in the name of Queen Elizabeth II in Paris during her lifetime, what is wrong in naming a market after Punjab Chief Minister.”
The land that the Improvement Trust, Kotkapura, is using to build this market is a Driving Skills Testing Park. “This land belongs to the Improvement Trust, Kotkapura. The trust is facing a financial crunch, so it is building a market in the park so that it can raise funds by selling shops,” said Kulwant Singh Brar.
Punjab Pradesh Congress general secretary Kushaldeep Dhillon said, “I have never heard that there is any market in the name of an incumbent Chief Minister anywhere in India. Punjab is making a new record with this rare gesture.”
