Announcements in Marathi in Millennium trains in Bombay

[Harold F. Schiffman]

Pudcha station Dadar aahe, dhanyavaad

Tuesday, February 14, 2006 10:39:54

IST Announcements in millennium trains to be made in Marathi too, in
keeping with local demand..

Amchi maanse amchi bhasha is one of the hot topics currently. Here is
another effort to prevent Marathi language from eradication in the city,
which according to Sthaniya Kamgar Sangh (SKS), Western Railway (WR)
division, seems to be happening. The SKS-WR committee has come up with a
demand to implement the Three Language Policy in millennium trains
announcing system too. The millennium train has an automatic announcing
system to inform passengers the name of the subsequent station while they
travel, the purpose being to keep passengers informed. Currently, such
announcements are made only in English and Hindi and SKS has demanded that
the Marathi-speaking crowd should also be kept in the loop by making
announcements in Marathi too.

With this aim, SKS-WR has issued a letter last week to the general manager
and is still awaiting a reply from the authorities. A part of this letter
reads: It has been seen that Mumbai Division of Western Railway is not
implementing the Three Language Policy of the Government of India, despite
several reminders to the same. The document further states that
non-implementation of this policy is a clear violation of the Sarkaria
commission due to which the SKS committee has demanded immediate
implementation of the Three Language Policy of the Government of India by
Mumbai division of WR. Ramesh Palande, vice president, SKS-WR said, If the
language policy is not implemented we will be left with no option other
than agitation for its implementation.

Worried about the regional language getting eradicated, Palande said, Our
city is multi-ethnic but that doesnt mean that our regional language has
to be replaced by some other language. The city still belongs to
Maharashtra and Marathi is its regional language. He further added that
there were people did not understand any other language apart from
Marathi. I have come across so many incidents where commuters with a
second class ticket who understand only Marathi have been caught in the
first class compartment and have been fined. This happens because visual
indication is emblazoned on first class compartments are in Hindi and
English but not in Marathi. How are such people supposed to know the right
compartment? asked Palande.

When asked about the reason about the reply to the letter and the
non-implementation of the policy, Shailendra Kumar, Chief Public Relation
Officer, WR said, It is not that we dont want to implement the rule. If
the language is not included, we will implement it soon. It is not a big
deal. Regarding the issue of Hindi and English indicators on first class
compartments, Kumar said, The three language policy may not be for the
trains because they move from one state to another. The trains are made in
Chennai and it is written in Hindi and English in all trains that run
across the country. When asked whether this rule applied to local trains
too, Kumar reiterated his views.

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