NE NEWS SERVICE
CHENNAI, OCT 4
Two DMK MPs and NDA constituent PMK on Sunday slammed the railways as the rail users in Tamil Nadu allegedly receiving train ticket confirmation SMS in Hindi.
Reacting to this, Southern Railway officials said that while the matter does not come under their purview, it has, however, been ”flagged” with IRCTC, the authorised e-ticketing agency.
DMK MP from South Chennai, Thamizhachi Thangapandian, took to Twitter to share a screenshot of the SMS purportedly received in Hindi.
“The #GovernmentofIndia despite its promises to not impose Hindi continues to impose the language through insidious means. Stop forcing Hindi on the non-Hindi speaking states,” she said.
In a series of tweets, she tagged the Railway Ministry and urged it to take urgent steps to ensure non- Hindi speakers are also able to access the IRCTC services.
“#StopHindiImposition,” she added.
I request @RailMinIndia to take urgent steps to ensure that non-hindi speakers are also able to access the IRCTC services.
2/3— தமிழச்சி (@ThamizhachiTh) October 4, 2020
Another MP Kanimozhi also criticised the alleged Hindi imposition.
“They are not respecting people’s feelings and are repeatedly imposing Hindi,” she said in an apparent reference to the Centre.
“People (in TN) cannot read what is mentioned in the SMS since it is in Hindi,” she told reporters at the airport here and warned of “serious repercussions” due to such incidents.
அலுவல் மொழிச் சட்டம்-1976, தமிழ்நாட்டுக்குப் பொருந்தாது. இச்சட்டத்தின் ’சி’ பகுதியில் சேர்க்கப்பட்டுள்ள தமிழ்நாட்டில் அனைத்து அலுவல் சார்ந்த அறிவிப்புகளும் ஆங்கிலத்தில் மட்டுமே வெளியிடப்பட வேண்டும். அதை மீறி இந்தியில் குறுஞ்செய்தி அனுப்பியது கண்டிக்கத்தக்கது!@RailMinIndia
— Dr S RAMADOSS (@drramadoss) October 4, 2020
PMK founder Dr S Ramadoss, whose party is an ally of the ruling BJP at the Centre, alleged that SMSes for e-tickets in Tamil Nadu are “being sent in Hindi for the last two days.”
“This is a planned imposition of Hindi on non-Hindi speaking people. The Railways should stop this,” he said in a tweet.
He demanded action against those behind this and urged that all Central government-related announcements in Tamil Nadu must be released only in Tamil and English.
Alleged Hindi imposition has been a sensitive issue in Tamil Nadu for long.
The DMK had successfully heralded an anti-Hindi agitation in the 1960s, before coming to power for the first time in 1967.
Even recently, both the ruling AIADMK and DMK have opposed the Centre’s New Education Policy (NEP) 2020, with the former having rejected the three language formula proposed in it.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami had announced that his government will only follow the two-language system–Tamil and English.
Condemning this, the Kannyakumari District Rail Users Association (KDRUA) Secretary Edward Jeni has urged the railways not to impose Hindi, as the Official Languages Act 1976 is not applicable to Tamil Nadu. He demands the Railways to send ticket reservation SMS in Tamil and English and not in Hindi and the IRCTC official responsible for this should be punished.
Even recently, both the ruling AIADMK and DMK have opposed the Centre’s New Education Policy (NEP) 2020, with the former having rejected the three language formula proposed in it.
Southern Railway clarifies that language is an option in IRCTC’s E- Ticketing platform; asked passengers to choose correct language option in their profile in the IRCTC website
Meanwhile, the Southern Railway has clarified on Sunday that Language is an option in E- Ticketing, hence passengers are requested to choose the correct language option in their profile page in IRCTC website.
The Southern Railway has clarified that “there were tweets forwarded by some alleging that a train passenger received message pertaining to ticket reservation in Hindi apparently causing inconvenience in understanding its content.
In this regard it is clarified that while registering the details under the section titled ‘profile’ in the IRCTC website, one needs to indicate the preferred language – either English or Hindi, to enable receipt of ticket related messages in the language of one’s preference. In the instant case, in the profile of the person on whose ID the said ticket was booked, the preferred language was indicated as Hindi. This was the reason why the system generated message was sent in Hindi, which was the preferred language.
Passengers are requested to kindly choose the correct language option while registering their profile in the IRCTC website for booking e-tickets” it added.
