Silk City prefers a name change: ToI

BERHAMPUR: Cultural and literary activists of Berhampur want the town's name to be changed to Brahmapur. The Railways have already changed the town's name to Brahmapur following requests from eminent personalities and organisations of the town, including the Utkal Sammilani and Utkal Parishad. Both these socio-cultural organizations promote Odia language. But the central and state government offices are yet to change the name of Berhampur. "It is high time the government changes the name of Berhampur to Bramhapur when the Centre is going to change the name of 25 towns across the country," said Prahallad Panda, a retired professor of Berhampur University. "The town's name was spelt as Berhampur by the British to avoid confusion with other towns, particularly for postal purposes. For example it could have been confused with Berhampore in West Bengal and Burhampur in Punjab's Gurudaspur district, said P Venugopal Rao, who has written the "City of Brahma", a book on the town.

"The state's revenue department should bring an amendment to change the spelling of the names of towns like Berhampur, Balasore, Cuttack and Jatni," said Basant Kumar Panigrahi, a senior advocate. "The names of many ancient towns have been changed. So the government should change the spelling of towns in Odisha, including Berhampur," said Pramod Kumar Panda of Utkal Parishad, a socio-cultural organization. "We require some authentic records from the revenue department to plead to change the spelling of the town's name," a senior officer of the postal department said. "We will alter the name of the town after the revenue record is changed," a BSNL official added.