Bhubaneswar: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Saturday said a firm “no” to the AIIMS Bhubaneswar’s order to its faculty members and staff for using Hindi as official communication.
Notably, the order issued on Thursday by the institute said that all employees should sign in Hindi, replies to all the letters received in Hindi and conduct discussions in this language in all administrative meetings. The institute asked its employees to write at least 30 per cent noting and drafting in Hindi and at least 55 per cent correspondence in Hindi.
Strongly reacting to the development, a delegation of ruling BJD MPs and MLAs led by BJD Parliamentary Party leader in the Lok Sabha Pinaki Misra on Saturday met AIIMS, Bhubaneswar Director Dr Gitanjali Batmanabane and submitted a memorandum to her protesting the imposition of Hindi language by the premier healthcare institute in its organisation process.
The delegation demanded that Odia language be used for the benefit of people of Odisha for availing services.
“We have submitted a memorandum to AIIMS Bhubaneswar Director on the circular regarding use of Hindi and registered our protest. We have requested her to introduce a three-language formula with focus on local language,” said Misra.
“Odisha is the first State to be formed on linguistic basis and we will not like to allow anybody sidelining our mother tongue Odia, particularly by any institution that is working for the people of our state. AIIMS Bhubaneswar is a public institution. People receiving treatment from here speak Odia and by imposing Hindi on the people of Odisha is jeopardising the interests of patients their attendants and stakeholders of the society of Odisha,” the memorandum said.
“We strongly demand that the arbitrary and discriminatory circular/order be withdrawn with immediate effect and Odia language be used widely since our people are familiar with it and that will make their task of availing services at AIIMS, Bhubaneswar easier,” the memorandum added.
On other hand, AIIMS Director Batmanabane said the circular was meant for those who are proficient in Hindi and for administrative work only.
“Almost all our signage are either in Odia or English. It was only an internal memo. The circular has been wrongly interpreted,” the Director told media persons here.
