Shop owners, hotels and other establishments in the city must display their names in Bengali alongside other languages of their choice, or face having their signboards removed by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), Mayor Firhad Hakim
announced on Friday.
Business owners have until September to comply with the directive.
While writing establishment names in Bengali was already mandatory under a KMC secretary’s order, many businesses have ignored the requirement, Hakim said.
“One can write in English or Hindi. We have no problem with anyone writing the name in any other language. What we are saying is that the name should also be written in Bengali,” Hakim said.
“There is a standing order that signboards should have names written in Bengali, but we are reiterating it once more. Establishment owners will get August and September to make changes. The KMC will pull down signboards where names are not written in Bengali by then,” the mayor added.
KMC sources said officials will meet over the weekend to determine which sections of the municipal act can be used to enforce Bengali language requirements on signboards.
Hakim also said that he would urge advertisers to include Bengali in their campaigns. Many advertisements targeting “high-end” clientele use only English, but Hakim requested that agencies include Bengali content as well.
“I cannot compel advertisers, but I can compel owners to make changes to their signboards,” he added.
The announcement comes amid widespread protests over alleged assaults on Bengali speakers in several states, mostly BJP-ruled ones.
The Trinamool Congress seized on a Delhi Police communication that referred to Bengali as a “Bangladeshi language,” promising “the strongest possible protests against language terror”.
Hakim said the KMC will also write to the railways and Calcutta port authorities, among other organisations, requesting they use Bengali in their signboards.