Protest against the proposal of changing the name of Mount Abu, the sole hill station in Rajasthan, and banning non-vegetarian food and alcohol consumption in the open has gained momentum with several organisations expressing anguish over the proposed move.

They argued that it will severely impact the local economy.

A letter from the department of local self government to the nagar parishad commissioner on April 25 had sought a "factual comment" of the commissioner regarding renaming Mount Abu as 'Aburaj Teerth' and prohibiting meat and liquor consumption in the open.

Looking at the religious significance of Mount Abu, a proposal to change the name to 'Aburaj Teerth' was passed in the board meeting of the Nagar Parishad in October last year. The proposal was sent to the state government, where it is pending.

After this, several MLAs of the ruling party wrote letters to Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma to change Mount Abu's name due to its religious significance and ban liquor and meat consumption in the open.

Local businessmen argue that Mount Abu is known worldwide by this name and changing the name will create confusion. Moreover, prohibiting non-veg food and liquor consumption will drastically reduce the number of tourists, they argued.

Twenty-three organisations, including Mount Abu Hotel Association, Laghu Vyapar Sangh, Sindhi Seva Samaj, Valmiki Samaj, Muslim Auquaf Committee, and Nakki Lake Vyapar Sansthan, handed over a memorandum, addressed to the chief minister to Sub Divisional Officer Dr Anshu Priya on Monday.

The SDM said that the proposal is pending at the state government level.

Saurabh Gangadia, secretary of Mount Abu Hotel Association, said that nearly five to six thousand tourists visit Mount Abu daily, and most of them come from neighbouring Gujarat, which is a dry state.

"The entire economy of Mount Abu is run on tourism activities and such a move to declare Mount Abu a 'Teerth' and prohibiting liquor and meat will destroy the economy," he said.

He claimed that nearly 15000 people were directly or indirectly associated with tourism-related activities in Mount Abu and if the number of tourists drops, it will have a negative impact on their livelihood.

"With a sharp decline in tourists, there will be an increase in unemployment and migration and business units will shut down," Dinesh Mali, secretary of Street Vendors Committee, said.

"There is absolutely no need to change the name and take such steps which have the potential of causing great harm to the economy and its people," he added.

The local business stakeholders said that the name 'Mount Abu' is internationally established and it features in global travel books, Google Maps, Wikipedia, tourism portals, travel advisories, foreign tour packages, international directories and academic texts.

According to the tourism department, the history of Mount Abu can be traced back to the Puranas. Known as "Arbudaranya" or "the forest of Arbhuda" in the Puranic Age, Mount Abu is described to have served as a retreat for sage Vashistha.

A popular mythological story associated with Mount Abu mentions a serpent named Arbhuda, who had saved the life of Nandi, Lord Shiva's mount, here.

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