Signboards in languages other than Tamil and English appearing in the city were removed by Madurai Corporation on Wednesday, following protests by Tamil-lovers targeted at boards in Hindi.
The operation was launched in response to protest messages posted on the Facebook page of the Madurai Collector.
Collector Anshul Mishra on Tuesday directed the Corporation to remove the signboards erected by it.
The protestors objected to the use of Hindi on the signboards.
Madurai is the cradle of Tamil culture, they argued.
“We were not aware of the Hindi words printed on the retro-reflective signboards put up in two places. An over-enthusiastic contractor, who was awarded the work to put up signboards, had included the Hindi words without our knowledge,” Corporation City Engineer (in-charge) A. Madhuram said.
Commissioner R. Nanthagopal said he supervised the removal of the boards, put up on the Town Hall Road, showing the direction towards Sri Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple.
Responding to comments, Mr. Mishra clarified on the Facebook that he was here to serve the people of Tamil Nadu and not to promote his mother tongue.
“Every day there were many comments made on Facebook and I wanted to respect their sentiments,” he said.
The drive was not limited to Hindi. Boards in South Indian languages such as Malayalam and Telugu were also pulled down by officials on routes leading to and around the Sri Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple late on Wednesday evening.
However, messages were posted on the Facebook site in support of the trilingual signboards claiming that they would have served upcountry tourists coming to the temple city.
