Central policy mandates use of Hindi in Metro

Amid protests over the use of Hindi on signboards of Namma Metro trains and stations, the Official Language Policy of the Union government says it is mandatory to have signboards in the regional language, Hindi and English in non-Hindi- speaking regions.

According to the Hindi Advisory Committee of Urban Development Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Ministry of the Centre, these three languages ought to be used even while releasing notifications.

The decision was taken at a meeting on October 18, 2016, in Kochi and was sent to all Metro development projects on December 9, 2016.

Meanwhile, Kannada Development Authority chairman S G Siddaramaiah said, “It is not necessary to use Hindi in Metro stations just because the Centre has granted permission. The Centre has given grants just like any other approval that people seek.”

The use of Hindi has triggered a lot of protests on social media. A protest with #nammametrohindibeda has started on Twitter.

“We do not have any particular national language. All those languages which have been recognised by the Centre are national languages. In Bengaluru, you can find more people speaking Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu more than Hindi. If you use Hindi, it is necessary to include all these languages as well,” he added.

“Only institutions like the Postal Department, Railways and public sector industries like BHEL should use three languages. BMRCL does not come under the Central government and it need not follow the rule of using three languages. It has violated the rules of the language policy of our state by doing so,” he said.