New Delhi, Sep 13: The government has decided to rename Port Blair as Sri Vijaya Puram, Union Home minister Amit Shah announced on Friday.

Port Blair is the capital city of the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Shah also said that the decision has been taken to free the nation from the colonial imprints as the Andaman and Nicobar Islands have an "unparalleled place" in the country's freedom struggle and history.

"Inspired by the vision of PM @narendramodi Ji, to free the nation from the colonial imprints, today we have decided to rename Port Blair as "Sri Vijaya Puram"," Shah wrote on 'X'.

The home minister said while the earlier name had a colonial legacy, Sri Vijaya Puram symbolises the victory achieved in India's freedom struggle and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands' unique role in it.

He said the Andaman and Nicobar Islands have an "unparalleled place" in the freedom struggle and history, and the island territory that once served as the naval base of the Chola Empire is now poised to be the critical base for India's strategic and development aspirations.

"It is also the place that hosted the first unfurling of our Tiranga by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Ji and also the cellular jail in which Veer Savarkar Ji and other freedom fighters struggled for an independent nation," he said.

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Bengaluru, Sept 17: MP Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar has suggested that to bring down the exorbitant cost barricading – estimated to cost around Rs 1.3 to Rs 1.5 crore per kilometre – railway lines could be used to construct fences on Tuesday.

Wadiyar took to X to share the letter he had sent to Union Environment Forest & Climate Change Minister Bhupendra Yadav.

Stating that “railway (lines) barricading” is proving to be an effective way to restrict the movement of elephants, he suggested that this should be taken up on a large scale.

“Upon consultation with the relevant authorities, it has come to my understanding that the cost of barricading per kilometre comes to Rs 1.3 crore to Rs 1.5 crore. Given that the border of the forests in my constituency stretches to over 400 km, with around 280 km of forest border requiring immediate barricading, the cost of such an exercise will reach Rs 350 crore to Rs 400 crore,” he wrote in his letter.

He said the environment ministry could make a direct request with the railway ministry for an allocation of railway lines, thus reducing the cost of the project to just that of labour cost.

“The benefits of this initiative are manifold, from reduction of human casualties, protection of property and livelihood, to conservation of elephants and, most importantly, promoting human-elephant coexistence, which is the need of the hour,” he added.

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