CHENNAI: While a major debate rages on over the Hindi 'imposition' in the State, the ordeals of Assistant Commissioner Balamurugan add a new twist to the old tale.
An officer with the outer commissionerate of the Goods and Services Tax office in Chennai, Balamurugan was posted in the department's "Capacity Building and Hindi Cell" recently. While the job entails promoting Hindi as the official language in filing proceedings with the department, the irony is that Balamurugan does not know or understand Hindi.
Balamurugan's superintendent also does not know the language. The Chennai commissionerate consists of three members and Balamurugan, one of those three, was posted there last November.
Till date, it was not a problem for Balamurugan or superintendent Sukumar as their colleague, Inspector Ranjan Dahiya was fluent in Hindi. "Dahiya would help us with all the correspondence. We only had to sign at those places crossed by him. We would not even read what was written,” Balamurugan tells Express. “My seniors know that I do not speak Hindi," says Balamurugan.
The trouble started when Dahiya was transferred out. A new inspector, Vijay Kumar, was posted to that vacancy. "Now, none of the three officials in the Hindi cell know the language. We are dependant on a tax assistant, who holds additional charge of the cell, for help. Initially, I thought they might have erred on my transfer. But now, I feel this is being done on purpose," he says, adding that he has written to the Chairman of the Chairman of Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs on the matter.
"It is not that I am against Hindi. When I was transferred to Mumbai, I took my children and wife along, so that they can learn Hindi. But this is like putting pressure on me," he says.
Currently, of the six officials at the eligible level, only one knows Hindi. "He should have been transferred in my place. This is being done to belittle my Tamil sentiment," says Balamurugan. G Ravindranath, Commissioner of GST & Central Excise, Chennai Outer, could not be contacted for his reaction.