Advt. in Assamese removed from petrol pump in Silchar; "Decision taken after Pradip Dutta Roy's ultimatum," manager

On November 24, the chief convener of Barak Democratic Front, Pradip Dutta Roy had issued an ultimatum urging the Cachar District Administration to replace the government of India’s Assamese advertisement in Silchar within 48 hours. If the same is not done, then he said, the BDF will take action.

A giant hoarding promoting free vaccination was placed at a Petrol Pump in Meherpur. The advertisement ignored Bengali, which is the official language of Barak Valley and that irked the BDF chief. This happened just a month after the poster defecation row that led to the arrest of two protesters but no action against the Jal Jeevan Mission official who violated THE ASSAM OFFICIAL LANGUAGE (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1961?”.

Section 5 of Assam Act XVIII, 1961, safeguards the use of Bengali in the Cachar district. It states, “Without prejudice to the provisions contained in Section 3, the Bengali language shall be used for administrative and other official purposes.”

Today morning, around 36 hours after the 48-hour-ultimatum, it was noticed that the hoarding has been removed from the billboard in Goswami Filling Station in Meherpur. Manager of the Petrol Pump, Ratnajyoti Chakraborty said that the owner of the Pump tried to establish a connection with the Deputy Commissioner of Cachar, Keerthi Jalli but the latter was not available to speak in the matter of Advertisement Row. Following this, keeping the security of the Petrol Pump in mind, the management decided to remove the advertisement.

“Pradip Dutta Roy reached out to us, met our owner and expressed his views. Following this, we took the decision to remove the advertisement,” informed Chakraborty.

After the advertisement was removed, Police officials were seen on the spot. “Yes, a few policemen arrived at the filling station and asked if the poster was torn apart. We responded by saying that the government advertisement featuring Prime Minister’s image, has been respectfully removed and not torn. It was done keeping the security of the filling station in mind,” added Chakraborty.

https://barakbulletin.com/another-assamese-only-govt-advt-in-silchar-pradip-dutta-roy-urges-bengalis-to-protest-unitedly-like-the-farmers/