Days after publishing the ordinance of altering the names of about 1,018 places and cities in Tamil Nadu by replacing it with the anglicized versions of Tamil names, the Tamil Nadu government has, on Thursday, announced that it has revoked its order of changing the names after the ordinance ran with major criticism for being inconsistent, amid the Coronavirus outbreak.

Tamil official language and Tamil culture K Pandiarajan said that the government order on the change of English names for Tamil names for places has been withdrawn and the new government order with a standard transliteration of the names will be issued in three days after Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami has consented to the new changes. 

We are working on alignment of views by experts on Transliteration standards from Tamil to English. Hopefully, we should get this released in 2/3 days. The GO on the change of English names for Tamil names for places has been withdrawn. Will absorb all feedback & reissue shortly. https://t.co/ol4JOWgCHj

— Pandiarajan K (@mafoikprajan) June 18, 2020

According to the minister, the government will absorb all feedback on altering the names and would reissue the order soon and added that the government has been working on alignment of the views rolled out by the experts on transliteration standards from Tamil to English. According to the reports, the prescribed changes had drawn major criticism from people, who neither tend to stick to it nor wished to get used to it amid fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

The changes were criticized for being inconsistent. From 'Coimbatore' to 'Koyampuththoor' and Vellore as 'Veeloor' while Thiruvarur went 'Thiruvaroor', the government has re-christened the names of 1,018 places and cities in the state. 

According to the ordinance dated April 1 and published last week, the new names were finalized after a high-level expert committee considered the suggestions of District collectors who had recommended the names for replace the prevailing English pronunciation.

According to the minister, the government won't pull back from changing the names and the Chief Minister would be approving the best changes in three days after which the revoked ordinance would be replaced by the new one.

However, the surprise change and sudden withdrawal by the state government amid fighting the global pandemic had erupted condemnation from the opposition parties and DMK President MK Stalin has called the ADMK government as a u-turn government and stated that the government should have consulted the experts before passing the ordinance.

Also read: Living in Tamil Nadu (Tamizh Naadu)? Practice these new district names!