The Southern Railway has clarified that names of the railway stations and other name plates in Central government offices are written in trilingual - Tamil, Hindi and English- as mandated by The Official Languages Act, 1963.
Responding to a report “Hindi in name boards at Erode Railway station condemned”, published in these columns on February 16, B. Guganesan, Chief Public Relations Officer, Southern Railway, said the trilingual name boards were installed as per the Act.
The report was based on a letter addressed to Railway Minister by K.N. Basha, vice- president of the Erode District Congress Minority Wing and former member of Zonal Railway User’s Consultative Committee.
He had, among other things, objected to Hindi being used in 'No Parking' boards on the station premises.
Mr. Guganesan said the names were in trilingual at the Erode station and in the rest of Tamil Nadu only as per the Act.
New boards
In view of the General Manager’s annual inspection, the name boards were repainted and some were replaced with new boards. Hence, to say that Hindi was added is incorrect, he said.
