DMRC, Kannada Sangha tie themselves in knot over Sir MV

Name game

Moti Bagh Metro station in the national capital has been on the minds of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) officials a lot these days, thanks to an unusual problem.

Ever since the station was renamed Sir M Vishweshwaraiah Moti Bagh Station to honour the great engineer from Karnataka, officials have been scratching their heads. The reason: the legendary figure’s name has been wrongly spelt in English.

R Sridharan, Chairperson, National Financial Reporting Authority, wrote a letter to DMRC chairman Mangu Singh recently, saying the English spelling used at Moti Bagh Station — Sir M Vishweshwaraiah — was incorrect.

Sridharan, who is a Karnataka cadre retired IAS officer, pointed out that late Bharat Ratna spelled his name as M Visvesvaraya in English.

“The Department of Posts, which has issued stamps, spells his name as Dr M Visvesvaraya, which is correct,” said Sridharan.

Requesting the DMRC to correct the mistake, Sridharan also suggested using the honorific Bharat Ratna as a prefix instead of knighthood given to him by Great Britain.

However, the DMRC and Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs added a twist to the knotty affair. Both pointed out that the spelling was being used as per the suggestion from Delhi Kannada Sangha, an association of Kannadigas in the national capital. When asked M Venkatachala Hegde, president of Sangha, said he had not noticed the mistake.

Both pointed out that the spelling was being used as per the suggestion from Delhi Kannada Sangha, an association of Kannadigas in the national capital.

When asked M Venkatachala Hegde, president of Sangha, said he had not noticed the mistake as he had “assumed charge of the Sangha recently”. “Now the mistake has been brought to my notice, I will contact the Karnataka government and get the correct English spelling from the Karnataka State Archives Department,” said Hegde. He said the Sangha will submit a request to the DMRC to correct the mistake.

After several requests by Delhi Kannada Sangha, the then Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu had agreed to name the Moti Bagh station, which is close to Delhi Kannada Sangha office on Rao Tula Ram Marg in South Moti Bagh, after the great engineer.

Interestingly, the DMRC has already once corrected the name of the metro station.

Earlier, the station was named Sir Vishweshwaraiah Moti Bagh. However, after it was inaugurated with much fanfare in August 2018, which was attended by Union Ministers from Karnataka and host of Kannadigas, some people pointed out that Mokshagundam was missing. The DMRC rectified the oversight by adding an ‘M’ to make it Sir M Vishweshwaraiah Moti Bagh.