Bhubaneswar, Sept. 14: The works department is considering the proposal to name the road connecting Rasulgarh with Mancheswar railway station after freedom fighter Pabitra Mohan Pradhan.

The proposal was moved by the chief minister's office following a letter from Pallahara MLA Mahesh Sahoo. Pradhan, a two-time MLA from Pallahara, was also the deputy chief minister of Odisha.

The British had imprisoned him in 1939 for resisting their rule. Pradhan had scaled the walls of the jail to join the Quit India Movement in 1942 on the call of Mahatma Gandhi. A member of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's 'suicide squad', he was considered too dangerous by the British rulers, who announced a reward of Rs 10,000 for his arrest.

'We have received the proposal and forwarded it to the concern divisional office for the scrutiny. They will analyse the salient information of the road, including its length, other features such as nearby structures and previous nomenclatures proposed by other organisations,' said chief engineer (road) O.P. Patel.

Patel said naming a road required some set process, which needed to be followed. 'The concern office will provide the details by the end of this month, after which we will pass a resolution and name it after the freedom fighter as proposed by the concern person,' said the chief engineer.

At present, the said stretch has a length of about 6.3km that is frequently used by people to reach Mancheswar railway station and Mancheswar Industrial Estate. It is now known as Mancheswar Industrial Estate Road. Sources said it was not named after any personality as of now.

'It is a good move of the administration to name the city roads after the freedom fighters. They have indeed contributed a lot to the freedom we enjoy today. Many such freedom fighters have lost their names with the passage of time. This is one of the best way to remember them and their contribution,' said Rasulgarh resident Rasabari Mishra.

Earlier, the works department had renamed the Flyover Road from Satya Nagar to Cuttack-Puri Road as Saint Mother Teresa Marg, which invited criticism since the road had earlier been called Abhimanyu Samanta Simghar Marg. It sparked controversy as intellectuals claimed that the road was earlier named after noted Odia poet Abhimanyu Samanta Simghar.

'The objective behind naming roads in the name of eminent persons is to keep them alive in memory. If the government wants to commemorate someone it should be something new rather than renaming something that already exists. This is totally unwise and insult to the poet,' said Damana resident Jagannath Mohanty.