Govt mulling law to put Punjabi on top on signboards: Bajwa

Further says that the matter will come up in the meeting of the cabinet on November 8

Punjab rural development minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa on Thursday said the state government was contemplating to bring a law to have Punjabi on top on all signboards on the roads in the state.

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“The chief minister is keen on doing this. The matter will come up in the meeting of the cabinet tomorrow (Friday),” Bajwa said during a discussion on the second day of the special assembly session.

The minister was responding to a demand raised by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Kultar Singh Sandhwan who rooted for the restoration of “due status” of Punjabi. Sandhwan demanded that Punjabi should be on top in all signboards across the state, suggesting that a resolution should be passed on this. However, speaker Rana KP Singh said the minister had already made a statement on the matter.

Later, Bajwa said the government would study the laws enacted by various states on preserving their mother tongue. “There are 6-7 states that have such laws. Unlike parties in some other states, we do not want carry out any aggressive campaign on this, but will try to conserve Punjabi by involving people. We need to act on this now or there will be a time when most people will start finding it difficult to read the language just the way it happened with Sanskrit,” he said.

The minister said as the cabinet meeting scheduled for Friday was postponed, the matter would come up in the next meeting. During the discussion in the House, Akali MLA Harinder Pal Singh Chandumajra also requested that the state government should declare ‘dry days’ and waive toll tax in Sultanpur Lodhi from November 9 to 12 in view of the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak. AAP legislator Kanwar Sandhu said steps should be taken to give 33% reservation to women before the assembly elections in 2022.