Rourkela: The district administration's efforts to implement a government directive to put up signboards in Odia has failed to receive response from shops and business establishments that continue to use English as lingua franca.

The administration has issued an official circular on April 11 to all shops and business establishments to write the names of their establishments prominently in Odia, the state's official language.

It had also held two rounds of discussions with representatives of these institutions who were apprised about the directive and told to act on the order by April 20.

"It is unfortunate that a government order is being disregarded," said Artatrana Mohapatra of the Odia Bhasha Banchao Samiti. Others also expressed their displeasure. "All the shops and business establishments had been asked to implement the order. This calls for strong steps as this is an insult to the state," said Debi Jena, a local resident. Now, in an effort to buck the trend and force the shop owners to implement the directive, the civic administration has called a meeting to finalise the modalities.

Additional district magistrate Manisha Banerjee said: "The administration is keeping an eye on the enforcement of the directive and I am going to hold a discussion with the Rourkela Municipal Corporation and the deputy labour commissioner's office to finalise the modalities."

Section 38 of the Odisha Shops and Commercial Establishment Act, 1956, stipulates that all signboards and nameplates should be written in Odia with a provision to prosecute violators.

"We have already issued notices to 86 violators in Rourkela," said deputy labour commissioner Prashant Kumar Baliarshingh.

"We will also lodge cases and fine Rs 5,000 on the violators," he said.

The labour commissioner said an awareness drive would be conducted to sensitise people and business establishments. Simultaneous drives were being conducted in urban areas of the district such as Sundargarh, Rajgangpur, Biramitrapur, Bonai and Kutra. Rourkela Chamber of Commerce and Industries president K. Poddar said: "The administration held two meetings with us. The deputy labour commissioner has also met us to make us aware about the government's decision. We immediately informed this to our members." He also promised that he would raise the issue in the executive committee meeting and issue necessary instructions.