BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah conveyed his strong displeasure against the use of Hindi in Bengaluru Metro sign boards and asserted that BMRCL must implement the two-language policy of the state, using only Kannada and English.
In a hard-hitting letter to Union Minister for Urban Affairs Narendra Singh Tomar, Siddaramaiah wrote, “Cultural aspirations and sentiments and sentiments of the people of Karnataka need to be respected. Apart from the cultural need to give primacy to the language of the state, it is also practical to use those languages which local people can read and follow. It is not essential to use Hindi in signages as the commuters who use the metro are comfortable with reading and understanding Kannada and/or English.”
He added that the state government is compelled to ask the BMRCL to temporarily re-design the sign boards in Metro stations without Hindi on it.
Calling the Centre’s three-language implementation in Metro as unreasonable, he wrote, “Though both Union and state governments 50:50 equity stake in BMRCL, the financial contribution of the state government is higher than the Centre.” He added that the state is responsible for supervision of operations, providing of security, repayment of loans contracted by BMRCL and also bear the operating losses.
“Therefore it would be appropriate that the policies of the state government are implemented in the project,” Siddaramaiah argued. Drawing the Centre’s attention to protests in Bengaluru against use of Hindi in metro sign boards, he said the state government has strictly dealt with those who defaced the boards in Metro stations.