The Centre has finally cleared the six-year-long proposal to rename 12 cities and towns in Karnataka. The matter was pending before the central government since October 13, 2008 when the Karnataka government had sought their nod for changing the names of these cities. The state government has been using the new names, but central nod was required to make the changes complete.
After getting feedback and inputs from various agencies, the centre has stated that it has no objection to the change of names. The most significant change was renaming of Bangalore as Bengaluru. Mangalore will also be renamed as Mangaluru. Bellary will be known as Ballari.
Other changes included Bijapur as Vijayapura or Vijapura, Belgaum as Belagavi, Chikmagalur as Chikkamagaluru. Gulbarga as Kalaburagi, Mysore as Mysuru, Hospet as Hosapete, Shimoga as Shivamogga, Hubli as Hubballi, and Tumkur as Tumakuru.
