Chandigarh: The Punjab government today assured the state Assembly that the Punjabi language would be given priority on signboards on major highways. Replying to a calling attention notice moved by AAP on the second day of the ongoing winter session of the Punjab Assembly here, state Parliamentary Affairs minister Brahm Mohindra blamed a contractor for relegating names in Punjabi to the third place after Hindi and English on the signboards along the Harike-Faridkot-Bathinda road.
"A contractor has committed a mistake by using the Punjabi language in the third place on signboards. A direction has been given to the contractor to set right these boards at his own cost and bringing names written in Punjabi on the top. These boards will be set right shortly," the minister said. The principal opposition party in Punjab, Aam Aadmi Party today moved a calling attention notice, seeking to draw attention towards the issue.
The minister assured the House that cases registered against some activists who had smudged signboards written in Hindi and English on the Harike-Faridkot-Bathinda road in Bathinda in October this year will be examined. AAP MLA from Bathinda Rural seat Rupinderjit Kaur demanded that the cases registered against these activists be withdrawn.
The minister pointed out in the House that according to the guidelines of the government of India, all signboards should be invariably be inscribed in local language, which is Punjabi, Devnagri (Hindi) and Roman (English) scripts in the same order. "The government of Punjab is committed to the promotion of Punjabi language and in future, it will ensure that priority is given to the Punjabi language while writing boards on national highways," said Mohindra.
Earlier, when AAP MLA and leader of opposition Sukhpal Singh Khaira read out the contents of the calling attention notice in English, Mohindra took a swipe at him saying that it was sad that on one side, the AAP had been demanding respect for Punjabi language and on other hands, their leader was reading the notice in English. PTI
