The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : `Tamil names already being written on milestones'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 24, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

`Tamil names already being written on milestones'

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, DEC. 23. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president, M. Karunanidhi, today contended that the work of writing names of places on milestones along the National Highway in Tamil was already on when the allegation that the markings were only in Hindi was made.

This was consequent to the efforts of the DMK, he said. Now the first km stone will be written in Tamil and Hindi, the second in Tamil and the third again in Tamil and Hindi so on, he explained. In effect, Tamil markings would be found on all km stones, he said.

He wanted to know why the AIADMK, which had the portfolio when it was part of the Union Government in 1998, did not take any action to make the markings in Tamil. The DMK had taken up the issue of Tamil markings even when it was part of the NDA Government.

Hence it was wrong on the part of the Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, to insinuate that when the DMK was part of the Union Government, the markings were only in Hindi.

The DMK had fought against the imposition of Hindi for long and people were well aware of the history of this struggle, he said.

CPI suggestion

The State Communist Party of India (CPI) secretary, R. Nallakannu, today said place details should be mentioned on milestones on highways in Tamil, English and Hindi, for the benefit of tourists and traders from other States.

Referring to the controversy over Hindi writings on milestones, he said in a statement here that highways in the State were used not only by locals but also by tourists from other States and abroad. In other States, the place details should be written on milestones in the regional language, Hindi and English, he said.

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