Bengaluru shops to lose trading license if 60% signages not in Kannada by Feb-end: Reports

Shop owners risk losing their license on failing to comply with the order (Representative image)

Trading licenses granted to commercial establishments in Bengaluru will be scrapped if 60 percent of their signages are not in Kannada, the city's civic body said on December 24, as per reports.

The shop operators have been given a deadline to adhere to the rule by February-end, the reports added.

The decision to set a deadline for the implementation of the 60 percent Kannada signage norm was reportedly taken by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) in its meeting held earlier in the day.

The order applies to all commercial establishments, including shops, hotels, and malls, the civic body said, as per an India Today report.

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The order comes two days after members of a pro-Kannada group were seen arguing with Marwari traders in the city's Chickpete region. The ruckus reportedly erupted over the portion of Kannada used in the shop signages.

The BBMP will be conducting a survey to take note of shops that do not comply with the Kannada language signage norm, the reports said. Notably, shops are located along a major portion of the city's 1,400 km network of arterial and sub-arterial roads.

The use of Kannada is a sensitive issue for a vast section of locals in Karnataka. The state government had, last year, mooted wide-ranging measures to promote Kannada. A draft legislation was floated that proposed the teaching of “functional Kannada language” to higher, technical, and professional education students, who have not learnt Kannada as a language till SSLC (class 10), and “cultural Kannada language” to students who have learned Kannada.