DUSHANBE, March 1, 2016, Asia-Plus – At the suggestion of the regional legislature of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO), Majlisi Milli (Tajikistan’s upper chamber of parliament) will consider on March 3 the issue of naming a settlement built for victims of the last year’s mudslides in GBAO’s Shugnan district after the incumbent President Emomali Rahmon – Rahmonobod.
We will recall that mudslides and floods caused by rains and melting glaciers destroyed dozens of houses, trade and cultural facilities, electricity lines, and an irrigation system in the Shugnan district in July last year.
More than 80 residential buildings have been built for the victims of mudslides in the Pitov Dasht area by the end of October.
The Majlisi Milli session will also consider a list of new names for a number of locations across the country.
We will recall that in a move that for the most part targets places with Uzbek or Kyrgyz names, Rahmon on February 1 sent parliament a list of new names to consider for 10 locations across the country.
In announcing the move on February 1, the president”s office said the list includes towns and districts across the country, as well as an artificial lake near a major hydropower plant.
Some have their former Persian names restored, some are named after historic Tajik figures, and others are given new Tajik names.
The city of Qairoqqum, an Uzbek name, is renamed Guliston;
An artificial lake by the same name is simply called the Tajik Sea;
The city of Chkalovsk is renamed Buston;
The district of Ghonchi, a name with Turkic roots, is named after Devashtich, a Sogdian ruler of the modern-day Tajik city of Panjakent in pre-Islamic Central Asia;
Jirgatol district will have its old, Turkic-rooted name, Lakhsh, restored;
Jillikul district, a Kyrgyz name, is renamed Dousti;
The district of Jaloliddin Rumi is renamed Jaloliddin Balkhi (Rumi was born to native Persian-speaking parents, originally from the Balkh city of Khorasan, in present-day Afghanistan);
The district of Qumsangir is renamed Jaihun;
The district of Shouroobod is renamed Shamsiddin Shohin;
The district of Tvalidara is renamed Sangvor.
Besides, the district of Hisor is renamed the city of Hisor.
