All-out efforts to be made to strengthen Punjabi: Mayor

Patiala, February 21

Mayor Sanjeev Sharma Bittu today said all possible efforts would be made to preserve and strengthen the Punjabi language. Bittu was speaking at an event organised on the occasion of International Mother Tongue Day at Bhasha Vibhag here today. 

Referring the day to the formation of Bangladesh, the Mayor said it was the love of Bangladeshis for their mother tongue that despite being a Muslim country, they gave importance to their mother tongue more than their religion. 

Bittu said the old records in Himachal Pradesh were still in Punjabi while people in Haryana’s Bawana read Punjabi newspapers.

Dr Bhim Inder Singh, professor at Punjabi University, said, “Punjabi is ranked 10th in nearly 6,750 languages spoken worldwide. There are about 14 crore Punjabi speakers in the world. — TNS