SAD demands official language status for Punjabi, protests against UT Admn

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 6

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) registered its protest against the denial of the official language status to Punjabi by the Chandigarh Administration, besides the non-implementation of the Punjab quota in the UT administration with UT Administrator VP Singh Badnore here today. 

A delegation of the SAD, led by party MP Prem Singh Chandumajra, briefed the Governor that despite the fact that Chandigarh was planned as the capital of Punjab by uprooting scores of Punjabi villages, grave injustice had been done by denying the official language status to Punjabi.

The SAD MP said Chandigarh was the only union territory in the country where the regional language had not been given the official status. He said this anomaly should be corrected immediately.

Delegation members, including former minister Dr Daljit Singh Cheema, said over the years, there had been concerted efforts to change the Punjabi character of the city. He said this started with the removal of Punjabi sign boards and now the UT offices did not even entertain correspondence in Punjabi.

Cheema said the UT Department of Education was adopting a discriminatory attitude towards the teachers of Punjab deputed in Chandigarh. He said according to the provisions of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, the employees of Punjab and Haryana were entitled to be taken on deputation with the Chandigarh administration in the ratio of 60:40. He said the Education Department, however, was not adhering to these mandatory provisions and filling vacant posts with its own cadre, without consulting various states.