Ranchi: The urban development and housing department has proposed a comprehensive framework for naming and numbering streets, roads, localities, colonies and public places across Jharkhand’s urban local bodies.The draft Jharkhand Municipal (Naming and Numbering of Streets, Roads, Mohallas and Public Places) Rules, 2026, was placed in the public domain for consultation. The deadline for submitting opinions and recommendations ended on Wednesday. The department will now examine suggestions of stakeholders before finalising and notifying the rules.The draft proposes prohibiting names that are obscene, derogatory or discriminatory, or could promote enmity on the grounds of religion, race, caste, community or language. It also seeks to prevent duplication of names within municipalities and across neighbouring urban areas to avoid confusion in administrative, postal, police and emergency-service records.Municipalities will be required to identify and review existing names considered offensive or inappropriate and recommend changes through a prescribed process. A proposed State-Level Nomenclature and Rationalisation Committee will scrutinise the recommendations before forwarding them to the state govt for final approval.“After reviewing the inputs received, changes will be made, if needed, and the final rules will be notified after due procedures and approvals,” department secretary Sunil Kumar said.For future naming exercises, the proposed framework gives preference to national figures, freedom fighters, local historical and cultural personalities, geographical features and values enshrined in the Constitution. It discourages discriminatory and community-specific references. The department also proposes creating a state-level digital register of all approved names.
