Notification soon on display of Kannada boards

Notification soon on display of Kannada boards

The Hindu

Fine to be imposed on violators

# KDA plans `Signboards Week'
# Private cellular phone firms criticised for non-use of Kannada

BANGALORE: As Karnataka is set to celebrate the golden jubilee of its formation, it is time to turn attention to "Kannadikarana" of Bangalore and the rest of the State, says the Kannada Development Authority (KDA) chairman Siddalingaiah.

Private firms, including cellphone companies, and public sector companies like IndianOil and Hindustan Petroleum, are all advertising only in English, and they are all going to be monitored closely in the coming weeks. A notification is soon to be issued by the Government making it mandatory for everyone to display Kannada boards prominently, according to him.

Dr. Siddalingaiah on Monday announced a slew of plans to achieve this objective, and it kicks off with a "Signboards Week" to persuade traders and commercial establishments in Bangalore to display Kannada signboards.

"We will start with Commercial Street, and we have already received a good response from the traders there," he told presspersons.

Dr. Siddalingaiah and his team have been travelling all over State to make an assessment of usage and implementation of Kannada as the administrative language. He said they had found many things that were alarming where the future of Kannada was concerned. However, none of them was "incurable", and timely application of corrective measures could restore Kannada to its primacy.

All corporations and other urban local bodies and panchayats, apart from the Urban Development Department would be directed to ensure that the areas under their jurisdiction featured signboards prominently in Kannada.

He came down on private cellular phone companies and petrol pumps all over the State where not a single Kannada word could be seen on display.

Tuesday is the deadline for traders, commercial establishments and Union Government institutions. During November, violations would be taken note of and fines would be imposed on violators.

After consultations with the officials of the Labour Department and, IT, BT Department, the authority had decided to recommend to the Government that investors and those setting up industries in the State should give an undertaking that they would employ only Kannadigas for Group C and D jobs.

He would call a meeting with Bangalore Mahanagara Palike Commissioner K. Jairaj to chalk out an action plan for "Kannada-isation" of the dozen-odd malls in the city. "It is shocking to note that Kannada is virtually invisible in all these malls. The shop salespersons do not speak Kannada, and there are no Kannada boards in any of the malls."

He said Kannada implementation in many government departments like Commercial Taxes and Energy Department were not up to the mark. During November he would inspect these departments and get them to fall in line.

However, it was heartening to see that scores of Kannada medium schools were running very well in border areas in neighbouring States, be it Andhra Pradesh, Kerala or Tamil Nadu. He found a huge demand for Kannada books on literature and other subjects in places like Hosur and Kasargod and in Andhra Pradesh. He has mooted the idea of supplying textbooks and other books to the libraries of 50 schools in Kasaragod, while the Sapna Book House said it would provide books to 50 schools.