The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) on Wednesday approved a proposal to change the name of Aurangzeb Lane to Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Lane. The decision was taken at the Council meeting by its members. The council has also approved a proposal for Conservation & restoration of main Gole Market building as a museum and redevelopment of surrounding area including construction of Service Block and Subway.

“An agenda item was placed before the Council to consider renaming 'Aurangzeb Lane' under the NDMC area as 'Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Lane' in terms of clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 231 of the New Delhi Municipal Act, 1994,” a statement from NDMC Vice Chairman Satish Upadhyay said.

. The Aurangzeb Lane connects the Abdul Kalam Road with Prithvi Raj Road. In 2015, the name of Aurangzeb Road was changed to Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Road by the council after then East Delhi MP Maheish Girri wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asking that “mistakes in history” be corrected.

“The Council has approved the renaming of Aurangzeb Lane as Dr A.P.J Abdul Kalam Lane. To respect the sentiments of people, the need to recognize and honour great men and women of our times, roads/ streets/ institutions have been re-named in the past,” it read.

A section of historians and scholars had also criticised the renaming of Aurangzeb Road in Lutyens' Delhi, saying it is a result of a “slanted view” of history and cautioned that such renaming exercises will “open up a can of worms.

Noted historian Narayani Gupta said that issues like these arise because people don't have a sense of history.

“Aurangzeb Road, alongside a cluster of others named after Mughal rulers like Akbar and Shahjehan, were given by the British when they designed the new imperial capital of New Delhi.