A 25-ft road in Burari village in North Delhi will be named after the country’s first Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat who was killed in a helicopter crash on December 8, 2021, in Coonoor, Tamil Nadu. The proposal to name the road as ‘Shaheed General Bipin Rawat Marg’ was passed in the house meeting of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Tuesday (October 14). The renaming will come into effect once the Municipal Commissioner passes an order following the passage of the proposal in the MCD house, officials said. Burari village councillor Anil Kumar Tyagi said the decision to name the road after the late Gen Rawat reflects the national spirit of patriotism. “Roads must be named after personalities such as Gen Rawat. It will remind us of the sacrifices that he made for the nation,” Tyagi said. A stone with Gen Rawat’s name is ready, and it has been approved by the Engineering Department, Tyagi said. The road does not have a name currently. Gen Bipin Rawat served as Chief of the Army Staff from from 2017 through 2019 and as Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee from September 2019 until his death in December 2021. He took over as the first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) on January 1, 2020, after the post of India’s highest-ranking military official was created. The CDS, a four-star general, bears the responsibility for overseeing the Department of Military Affairs in the Ministry of Defence. Gen Rawat and his wife were among 10 passengers and four crew members of the Indian Air Force Mi-17 helicopter that crashed while on way from Sulur Air Force base to the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, where the CDS was to deliver a lecture. Gen Rawat was 63 years of age, and had served the Indian Armed Forces for 43 years.
