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Lansdowne residents likely to move HC over proposed name change
Earlier known as Kalundanda, the town was renamed as Lansdowne after the then Viceroy of India, Lord Lansdowne, on September 21, 1890
The Lansdowne Cantonment Board’s proposal to rename the serene hill town in Pauri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand as Jaswantgarh, after Rifleman Jaswant Singh, one of the heroes of the 1962 India-China war, is likely to be challenged before the state’s high court by local residents.
The proposal to change the name of the town, around 300km from Delhi, has already been sent to the Principal Directorate Defence Estates, Central Command, Lucknow after the defence ministry sought from all cantonment boards to rechristen places named during the British era, officials said.
Earlier known as Kalundanda, the town was renamed as Lansdowne after the then Viceroy of India, Lord Lansdowne, on September 21, 1890. Lord Lansdowne or Henry Charles Keith Petty-Firzmaurice, the fifth Marquess of Lansdowne, served as the Viceroy of India from 1888 to 1894.
Colonel TC Sharma (Retd), president of Lansdowne Hotel Association, said a series of meetings, including with prominent civil society members, has been held in this regard, where residents have decided to move the high court against the cantonment board’s proposal.
“The name Lansdowne is the soul of this place. They can’t take out its soul,” Sharma told HT. “The proposal doesn’t reflect the desires and aspirations of civil society whose sentiments are attached to the name of Lansdowne.”
After years of efforts, Sharma said, people now know about the tranquil and beautiful hill town as a popular tourist destination. “People visit the town from Delhi and other parts of the country. That’s why the tourism industry is flourishing here. The move will kill the local tourism industry. It is a death warrant of Lansdowne’s identity,” he said. “On one hand, they (the government) talk about promoting tourism, but on the other they try to hurt it by changing the name of a town. There is absolute contradiction.”
On July 1, Shilpa Gual, Chief Executive Officer of Lansdowne Cantonment, said that the board in its proposal to the higher authorities has informed them that local residents are not in favour of changing the name of the town.
“Some locals had given to me in writing that they don’t want the name of Lansdowne to be changed because of its popularity by the same name and tourism attached to it,” Gual had told HT. “I apprised the board president Brigadier VM Chaudhari and other members about the civilians’ choice. The brigadier apprised me about the army’s choice being Jaswantgarh.”
She added: “We decided in the proposal that our first preference is to retain the name as Lansdowne. If it has to be changed, then change it to Jaswantgarh, after Jaswant Singh, 1962 India-China war hero.”
The decision, Gual added, was taken in a meeting of the board members on June 20.
Rifleman Jaswant Singh, who was serving in the 4th Battalion of the Garhwal Rifles, attained martyrdom on November 17, 1962 in Arunachal Pradesh [then North-East Frontier Agency] during the India-China war, after preventing the Chinese troops from advancing for 72 hours. Singh, a resident of Baria village in Pauri district, was awarded (posthumously) with Maha Vir Chakra — the second highest military decoration in India.
Lansdowne is home to the Garhwal Rifles — a regiment that came into being on May 5, 1887 at the instance of Field Marshal Sir FS Roberts, the then Commander-in-Chief of the British army in India. Lt Col EP Mainwaring raised the First battalion at Almora on May 5, 1887 and moved it to Kalundanda — later renamed as Lansdowne — on November 4, 1887. The regimental centre was established at Lansdowne on October 1, 1921.
