BJD Cong oppose AIIMS ''effort'' to impose Hindi on Odia people

    Bhubaneswar, Feb 21 (PTI) The ruling BJD and
opposition Congress on Friday accused the All India Institute
of Medical Science (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar, of imposing the Hindi
language on the people of Odisha.
    On the International Mother Language Day, the parties
claimed that the effort of the AIIMS authorities is an insult
of the Odia language.
    In an office order signed by AIIMS, Bhubaneswar Deputy
Director P K Ray on Thursday asked officials in the
administration, academic section, finance and accounts and the
heads of departments to carry out their works in Hindi under
the provisions of the Official Language Rules, 1976.
    "At end of every quarter starting from January details
of the work done in section/department may be sent to Official
Language Section in the attached proforma so that a
consolidated report may be prepared and sent to the Ministry
by the Administration in prescribed time," the order said.
    Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president Niranjan
Patnaik said, "It is an assault of the Odia language. We will
not tolerate such imposition of Hindi on Odisha by the
Centre."
    BJD Parliamentary Party leader Pinaki Mishra said, "We
are the first state to be formed on linguistic basis and we
will not allow anybody sidelining our mother tongue,
particularly by any institution that is working for the people
of our state."
    "We will insist on Odia being used since our people
are familiar with it and that will make their task of availing
service at AIIMS easier," Mishra said adding that he will
formally lodge a protest with the Ministry of Health.
    The AIIMS, Bhubaneswar is one of the apex healthcare
institutes set up by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare,
under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojna (PMSSY). PTI
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(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)