Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Assembly passed a bill Tuesday making Odia language mandatory on signboards of all shops and commercial establishments. By another law, officials will face action if they do not use local language in their daily dealings.
The Odisha Shops and Commercial Establishments (Amendment) Bill 2018 provides for all shops and establishments to comply with its provisions within a month. Else, they will have to pay fines ranging between Rs 1,000 and Rs 5,000 for a first violation and Rs 2,000 and Rs 25,000 for the second instance.
The assembly also passed the Odisha Official Language (Amendment) Bill, 2018, which makes penal provisions for government officials if they do not use Odia language in official work.
In order to encourage maximum use of Odia language, the new law will have provision to give rewards to officials. In August 2016, the state government enacted the revised rules of the Odisha Official Language Act, 1954, formally bringing it into force for official work in Odia language.
A total of eight bills were passed in the budget session that ended Tuesday, four days ahead of schedule. The session was held in two phases since March 20. The house passed the Odisha Appropriation Bill 2018, allowing the state to utilise the annual budget amount of Rs 1.22 lakh crore for the current fiscal.
