Bengaluru: In what may bring cheer to the pro-Kannada activists in Karnataka, the South Western Railway has reportedly decided that railway tickets will also be printed in Kannada besides English and Hindi.
Railway tickets will now be printed in Kannada, in addition to Hindi and English.
Kannada activists have been demanding this for some time now.
However, only tickets printed at station counters will be available in Kannada, while tickets booked online are yet to be made available in the language.
Unreserved tickets with information in Kannada will be available in computerised passenger reservation counters in Bengaluru, reported The Times of India.
The Indian Railways’ passenger amenities committee had approved a proposal to print tickets in the local language, in addition to English and Hindi from January 1, 2018.
Karnataka is not alone in demanding the inclusion of local languages, Tamil Nadu is also among the states that has demanded that tickets and official forms be available in the local language and have pushed for a two-language policy of English and the local language instead of Hindi.
In July 2017, members of the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike had defaced Hindi signs in metro stations across Bengaluru. Activists of the Vedike had demanded that the three-language policy be removed and that the state government implement a two-language policy of Kannada and English only.
Subsequently, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had written to the Centre, asking it to order the Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) to take down the sign boards in Hindi.
However, members of the Vedike are still upset that despite the promise, BMRCL still has not taken down the Hindi signboards.
