Raipur, August 21: The Chhattisgarh government will rename the proposed capital of the state Naya Raipur as Atal Nagar after the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Naya Raipur is located 17 km southeast of Raipur, the current capital. After a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Chief Minister Raman Singh announced about his government’s plan to renaming some other institutions and projects after Vajpayee.

A motion of condolence has been passed to rename some places after him. Bilaspur University is to be renamed as  Atal Bihari Vajpayee University and Narrow Gauge Line as Atal Path. The Central Park which is constructed beside Collectorate is to be named as Atal Park. Meanwhile, Rajnandgaon Medical College is also be named after the former prime minister. Singh also announced that a police battalion would be named as Pokhran Battalion’ to mark the contribution of contribution to Pokhran Nuclear Test.

Vajpayee died on August 16 at the age of 93 after a prolonged illness. He became minister of the country thrice -- in 1996, 1998 and 1999. His last tenure ended in 2004. Vajpayee was the prime minister when Chhattisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000. He suffered a stroke in 2009 which left him speech-impaired.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 21, 2018 05:48 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).