Kolkata Shops, Eateries Must Have Bengali Signboards, Orders Civic Body

The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has made it mandatory for every commercial establishment in the metropolis to put up signboards in Bengali along with other languages, an official said.

The civic body is determined to enforce the usage of Bengali in signages, and has set a tentative deadline of February 21, 2025, to initiate the process, he said.

Municipal Secretary Swapan Kundu said the corporation is in contact with the owners of shops, restaurants and other business establishments to ensure that names and other information about the outlets are written in Bengali in addition to any other language.

In October, TMC Councillor Biswarup Dey had said at a KMC session that all signboards in public and private offices should have Bengali text apart from other languages and all notifications, letters and documents of the municipal corporation should also be published in Bengali.

Dey had made the proposal in the wake of Bengali receiving the distinction of a classical language by the Centre on October 3, along with Assamese, Marathi, Pali and Prakrit.

KMC Mayor Firhad Hakim, too, had earlier said he will urge private advertising agencies and shops to use Bengali in their signages.

"I have nothing against the use of Hindi, English or other languages in banners, festoons, signages and such modes of communication. But, Bengali should also be there along with the others," Hakim had said.

In a similar move by the KMC in 2007, the then Mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya had issued notices to make shop owners mandatorily use Bengali along with other languages in signboards, but it did not materialise. 

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