New Delhi: In a strange turn of events, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Monday announced a change of name for HUDA City Centre station on the Delhi Metro's Yellow Line, hours after renaming it as Gurugram City Centre, a record third time in twenty-four hours.
The metro station on Delhi Metro's Yellow Line will now be known as Millennium City Centre Gurugram.
The station falls in Haryana's Gurugram, a bustling IT and commercial hub in the National Capital Region (NCR) that is known as Millenium City.
"In reference to our earlier tweet regarding the renaming of the HUDA City Centre Metro station, this is to inform that the full name of the station will read as Millennium City Centre Gurugram", the DMRC in a third amendment said in a tweet.
Earlier in the day, the DMRC tweeted, "A decision has been taken to rename the HUDA City Centre Metro station on Yellow Line as Gurugram City Centre. Accordingly, the process of changing the name in all official documents, signage, announcements, etc. has been initiated and shall be changed gradually."
Sources said a request to rename the station had come from both the Centre and the Haryana government.
Hours later, the DMRC said in another tweet, "In partial modification of the earlier announcement regarding the renaming of the HUDA City Centre Metro station on Yellow Line, it has now been decided by competent authorities to rename the station as Millennium City Centre".
A senior DMRC official said the process of changing the name in all official documents, announcements, and on signages, etc. has been initiated and shall be completed gradually.
Officials, however, did not say on what grounds the decision to rename the station was taken.
The HUDA City Centre metro station is the terminal point of the 49-km Yellow Line.
The other end of the corridor is Samyapur Badli metro station in northwest Delhi.
The elevated HUDA City Centre metro station, as part of the Qutub Minar-HUDA City Centre segment was opened on June 21, 2010.
Many Delhi Metro commuters wondered what was the rationale behind renaming the station.
"I don't understand what was the need for renaming the station. One reason that seems plausible is perhaps the local government wanted the name 'Gurugram' to become more popular after the rechristening of Gurgaon. But changing the old this name was not necessary," said a Gurugram resident who frequently takes the metro to get to his office in Delhi.
"I work in Delhi and use the metro also a lot. At times, I park my motorcycle at HUDA City Centre station and take the metro to office," he said.
Another Gurugram resident whose office is based in Delhi asked if the renaming was needed at all.
HUDA City Centre metro station is a massive station with a lot of commercial establishments and office spaces housed in a complex attached to it, she said.
"Imagine the cost of changing the name on signages and documents. Besides, the pre-recorded announcements that are made on metro premises will have to be changed," she said.
Another commuter said, "HUDA City Centre is not even a controversial name. I wonder what prompted the authorities to rename it."
With inputs from agencies