Making commercial establishments to prominently display signboards in Telugu has become a tough task for the Labour Department.
On Friday, employees of a car showroom at Rasoolpura crossroads and officials of Labour Department almost came to blows when the latter tried to apply black paint on the showroom’s English signboard.
The Labour Department had launched a drive to apply black paint on signboards of showrooms who had failed to act on the department’s directive to display signboards in Telugu. As part of the drive, a team of department officials led by Deputy Commissioner, Secunderabad, S. Naresh Kumar, tried to blacken some of the signboards of commercial establishments at Rasoolpura area.
Official’s car surrounded by showroom staff
Trouble broke when employees of Ford Showroom at Rasoolpura crossroads started opposing the attempts of the department officials to apply black pain on the English signboard.
“They shouted and misbehaved with us when we tried to do our job. One person in particular, Shabbeer, was abusive. They surrounded my official car to prevent me from moving. We immediately went to Begumpet police station and lodged a complaint,” said Mr. Kumar.
Earlier the department had served show-cause notices on several shops along the Rasoolpura-Begumpet stretch for not displaying Telugu signboards. Labour Commissioner B. Ramanjaneyulu had warned of strict action on shops if they continue to ignore the directives.
The Begumpet police swiftly acted on the complaint from the Labour Department officials and arrested showroom employee Shabbeer for disrupting a government employee from discharging duties.
“We have arrested showroom employee Shabbeer. There was a tense situation at Rasoolpura for a while before we managed to keep things under control,” said Begumpet Inspector Y. Narasimha Reddy.
