Punjabi gets ‘step-motherly’ treatment

Gurvinder Singh

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, January 19

The Punjabi Bhasha Prasar Bhaichara has taken a strong exception to limited number of Punjabi hoardings under the Smart City project and use of erroneous Punjabi language in hoardings. The Smart City scheme has nod of the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation.

Members of the Punjabi Bhasha Prasar Bhaichara said Punjabi language has been almost ignored in the campaign. They added that only two hoardings feature Punjabi, while most of the hoardings and messages were written in Hindi and English.

“This is strange that only a couple of hoardings are in Punjabi. And even there are grammatical errors in them as well,” said Mahinder Singh Sekhon of the organisation.

“Punjabi language is being neglected in Punjab,” Sekhon said. 

“Smart City does not mean that there should be no use of Punjabi. All campaigns in Punjab should be in Punjabi and other languages can play a supportive role,” he said. 

“Decades after making of Punjabi Suba on the basis of the language, the letter related to implementation of Punjabi in all government work was issued in September,”Sekhon said. 

He said this dishonour would not be tolerated.