UP govt honours Atal Bihari Vajpayee on first death anniversary, renames Lucknow's Hazratganj Chauraha as Atal Chowk

Lucknow: Lucknow’s famous Hazratganj Chauraha has been renamed as Atal Chowk in memory of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. “On the occasion of the first death anniversary of late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji, Hazratganj Chowk has been renamed after him as Atal Chowk from 16 August,” read a poster put up at the chowk (crossroads). [caption id=“attachment_7179631” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Uttar Pradesh government has renamed Lucknow’s Hazratganj Chouraha as Atal Chowk. ANI[/caption] One of the founding members of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Vajpayee died last year on 16 August at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) after a prolonged illness. He was 93. Sharing details of the decision, Mayor Sanyukta Bhatia on Friday had told ANI , “A number of councillors were demanding different roads and roundabouts be named after Atal Bihari Vajpayee. However, we were looking for something grand enough to fit the stature of the former prime minister. It has been decided that most prominent and biggest intersection of Lucknow — Hazratganj Chaurha — will be named after Bharat Ratna Atal Bihar Vajpayee.” “As the mayor of the city, we have prepared a draft for developing a memorial for him — Atal Smriti Upvan. In this memorial, we plan to place his statue along with 51 of his poems, speeches and other memorabilia. We have already started a process for identifying land for this memorial,” she said. On 21 August  last year, the Chhattisgarh government had announced the renaming of Naya Raipur as Atal Nagar. Similarly, the Jharkhand government has also renamed several places and colleges after Vajpayee’s name — the Sahibganj Harbour has been renamed as Atal Bihari Vajpayee Harbour Sahibganj. Besides this, BJP-ruled states have also decided to rename a few other places and institutions in his name.