Bangladesh to introduce Bengali in all spheres

Dhaka, May 14 (IANS) The Bangldesh government Wednesday directed all its offices to implement within 15 days a high court order on introducing Bengali in all spheres.

A high court bench Feb 17 ordered that the writing of all signboards, nameplates, vehicles number plates or any kind of announcement be in Bengali, bdnews24.com reported.

Foreign embassies and entities were, however, exempted.

The court had issued the order on a petition filed by Yunus Ali Akhand, a lawyer.

The court also ordered a halt to the use of mixed languages -- Bengali and English -- in the print and electronic media.

The defendants had been asked to implement the order within a month.

As the order has not been carried out within that time limit, the petitioner filed for contempt of court against the defendants April 6.

The bench April 29 directed authorities to implement its order on the use of Bengali and report by May 15.

Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury, public administration secretary, said government offices had been told to implement the court order within 15 days.

The exercise would be reviewed after 15 days, the secretary said.

He said private offices, too, would be asked to switch to Bengali.

The information secretary also had been asked to use Bengali in mass media, Chowdhury said.