Plea to rename Meenatchi Sundaranar Road in Erode as Brough Road
The Hindu
ERODE Stating that renaming of Brough Road as Meenatchi Sundaranar Road by the previous AIADMK gover
Stating that renaming of Brough Road as Meenatchi Sundaranar Road by the previous AIADMK government had hurt the sentiments of Christian community, Salem Historical Society has urged the State government to restore the earlier name so that the lost glory is retained.
J. Jayasingh, president, and J. Barnabas, general secretary of the Society, in a letter to the Chief Minister said that the society is involved in protecting the rich historical heritages in the State and wish to highlight an issue that was made to alter the history.
The letter said that Brough Road was named in memory of a missionary Rev. Anthony Watson Brough (1861-1936) from New South Wales in Australia who arrived in Erode in 1897. He constructed 96 schools, 20 churches and implemented schemes for the welfare of Dalit community members.
In recognition of his social service, he was nominated as an honorary member at the Erode municipality and the road from Panneerselvam Park to Government Headquarters Hospital was renamed after Brough, the letter said.
But, renaming the road is an act of forgetting his contributions and an attempt to change history, the letter said. Erode city is growing with a large number of commercial establishments and links to foreign companies and restoring its earlier name would be the right decision.
Many arterial roads like Mettur Road, Perundurai Road, Sathy Road and Chennimalai Road can be renamed as Meenatchi Sundaranar Road so that his contributions remain known to the people. “This will ensure that leaders of the two communities are remembered for their contributions,” he added.