Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad asks HoDs to ensure official communication in Telugu at Ongole

Ongole: The Andhra Pradesh State Official Language Commission (OLC) chairman Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad ordered the district heads of departments to see the official communication in their respective offices is made in the official language of the State, Telugu.

He conducted a review meeting with the officials on implementation of Telugu as the official language in the district and announced that only six offices were implementing it 100 per cent.

In the meeting, Yarlagadda asked the officials to see that all official communication, including the letters and advertisements, was made in Telugu. He advised them to shun the negligence towards Telugu language and encourage its usage at all levels.

He said using English in the official communication cannot make a people-friendly government. He opined that the earlier government failed to take care of Telugu language, but the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government is giving utmost priority to Telugu as the official language.

Answering a question on the introduction of English as the medium of instruction in the government schools, Lakshmi Prasad said that the State government took a good decision as per the need of the hour. He said that the government didn't neglect Telugu, but made it a compulsory subject in the syllabus.

He said that his office comes under the purview of the Department of Languages and Culture and the decision to implement the English medium was taken by the Education Department for the benefit of children from poor and downtrodden classes.

He announced that in the 109 offices they had reviewed, only 6 offices including the government insurance office, I&PR AD office in Ongole, Divisional PRO offices at Ongole, Kandukur and Markapuram and District library office were implementing Telugu in daily activities. He said that 16 offices were implementing Telugu between 70 and 100 per cent, while 30 offices were implementing between 50 and 70 per cent.

Collector Dr Pola Bhaskar assured the chairman that the district officials would increase usage of Telugu in files and announced to appoint resource persons in the district especially to train the staff.

He ordered the officials to issue all welfare-related documents in Telugu only and stressed the need for the government to develop Telugu supported software for use in e-Office.