DARJEELING, : In an effort to protect and preserve Nepali language, the Gorkha land
Territorial Administration (GTA) has started displaying names of various
offices in Nepali language on their signboards starting Wednesday.
This
step comes after the announcement by GTA chief executive Anit Thapa during a
programme held to mark Nepali New Year at Bijanbari on April 14 where heurged
that signboards of shops and offices within the GTA area also be displayed in
the Nepali language.
Signboards
written in Nepali language were today put up in some GTA offices including the
Department of Primary Education.
GTA
Primary Education in-charge Rajesh Chauhan said, “Within a week, we will be
putting up boards in Nepali in all the Primary Education offices in the GTA
area followed which we will start the exercise in all primary schools.”
Thapa wrote
on Facebook: “This is just the start. Let us now continue
with this drive. Nepali language is listed under the 8th Schedule of the Indian
Constitution and is our identity. Until all shops and offices do not have
boards in Nepali we should continue with this effort.”
While
addressing the program at Bijanbari, Thapa had said, “We must save our language
and traditions through which we can save our community. Our traditions and
language are slowly fading away. We are using Nepali language at a minimum at
present for which I had also issued a notification from the GTA some months
back asking that signboards in the GTA should be used by shops, homestays,
hotels and offices. However, I feel that many did not implement it.”
“It
may look like a small thing, but these types of things will later turn into a
big thing. Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong and Mirik belong to the Gorkhas and
Nepali language should survive here. Only if the language survives, will we
survive. One may ask what will happen if Nepali language is used in signboards
but I feel this will go a long way
forward in saving our language,” said Thapa who is also the
BharatiyaGorkhaPrajatantrikMorcha president.
Thapa
also requested the GTA Sabashads to take this initiative and complete it within
a month while also directing the BGPM Yuva Shakti to start the drive. He added
that he had no issues with the signboards also having other languages in it,
but it was compulsory that Nepali language be included in it.
On
the other hand, Darjeeling District BGPM Yuva Shakti shared that on April 17,
they will hold a meeting with different organisations here to take forward the
direction of signboards also having Nepali language.
