Saminathan cited a government order that stated that documents in government departments, files, and buildings should be in Tamil language.
Published Feb 08, 2024 | 3:01 PM ⚊ Updated Feb 08, 2024 | 3:01 PM
MP Saminathan. (Facebook)
The Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday, 7 February, set the ball rolling for changing name boards of commercial establishments, shops, and enterprises to Tamil across the state.
Minister MP Saminathan, who chaired the second review meeting in Chennai along with Minister for Labour Welfare and Skill Development CV Ganesan and senior officials, appealed to the traders’ community to ensure a smooth transition to Tamil boards by April end.
The move comes after the Karnataka government passed an ordinance, mandating 60 percent of space on signages to be in Kannada in the wake of violent protests by pro-Kannada organisations targeting businesses and establishments in Bengaluru.
Saminathan, who holds the Tamil Development, Information, and Publicity portfolio, said the first meeting with the traders led by Tamil Nadu Vanigar Sangam was held on 2 November 2023.
“This is the second such meeting. I am happy to note that on 2 February, some of the traders in Erode have already changed the name boards to Tamil. It is a welcome move, and we want that to be replicated across the state,” he told reporters.
“A campaign was held in Erode under this initiative and some of the traders have already replaced the old name boards with new ones in Tamil,” he said.
Saminathan cited a government order that stated that documents in government departments, files, and buildings should be in the Tamil language.
Referring to the request made by the Traders’ Federation, that an awareness campaign appealing to their members to replace the boards in Tamil would be conducted in every district before the end of March, Saminathan said he has given instructions to them to take one more month to hold the exercise across the state.
“I have asked them to take one more month to conduct the awareness campaign across districts. That is by the end of April, please ensure a smooth transition to use Tamil name boards without the necessity of a government order,” he added.
In December, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that the ordinance would ensure that 60 percent of space on signboards and nameplates is dedicated to Kannada, with the rest left to any other language. The ordinance will come into effect on 28 February 2024.
The government will also bring an amendment to Section 17(6) of the Kannada Language Comprehensive Development Act (KLCDA) of 2022, which was promulgated by the previous BJP government on 10 March 2023, ahead of the Assembly elections in the state, he said.
Speaking about the KLCDA, Siddaramaiah said that Section 17(6) of the Act says that commercial, industrial or business organisations, institutions, hospitals, laboratories, entertainment centres, hotels, etc should allocate half of the space on signboards and nameplates to information in Kannada, with the consent of either government or the local representatives. The rest of the portion can be in any other language.
(With PTI inputs)
