Odia mandatory on signboards: If used officials to be rewarded and violators to be punished

Bhubaneswar, March 15: Odisha mandates ‘Odia’ on signboards. Odisha approved an amendment which makes mandatory for all shops and commercial establishments to display signboards in Odia. 

The State Cabinet on Wednesday approved an amendment in the Orissa Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1956 making it mandatory for all shops and commercial establishments in Odisha to display signboards in Odia, informed Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi during the Cabinet meeting.

As per the amendment the shops and commercial establishments can write name on the signboards in any language but it should be prominent in Odia. It will be considered as an offence if the names are not displayed in Odia and the violator will be fined as per the new provision, added Padhi.

The lawbreakers will have to pay a fine between Rs 1000 to 5000 in the first instance of violation in court of the judicial magistrate and Rs 2000 to 25,000 when the offence is repeated. Earlier, the fine amount was Rs 15 and Rs 25, respectively.

The amendment in the Orissa Official Language Act, 1954 also got the Cabinet nod under which the officers who use Odia language for official works will be rewarded and the violators of the act will be punished. The reward and punishment will be decided after the amendment is passed in the Odisha Assembly, said Padhi.