By Asia Samachar | India |
The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has been criticised for misspelling road names in Gurmukhi, the Punjabi script, on signage in the city. The errors include missing letters and incorrect translations, reports the Hindustan Times.
Experts have called for a citywide survey to correct the mistakes. The NDMC claims that errors are fixed when they are pointed out, but language academies have not responded to requests for comment. The NDMC manages 42.7 sq km of central Delhi and is responsible for 1,298 km of roads and over 5,343 road signs.
Akbah Hoad, Catliya Marg, Aaditi Sadaan, Janpadh – did Delhi add new roads to its already busy list? No. The roads remain the same, just misspelled in Gurmukhi (the Punjabi script) on green signage that dot parts of New Delhi.
Hours after Simon Wong, the Singapore high commissioner to India, pointed out on Twitter on October 8 how the Embassy of Singapore had been erroneously spelt as “Singapur” on a sign at Satya Marg, a Twitter user pointed out that this was not the only mistake made by the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC).
Harshdeep Rapal, 40, an entrepreneur and avid cyclist, said that as he rode past Lutyens’ Delhi many mornings, he noticed several incorrect Gurmukhi spellings. “I have spotted over a dozen wrongly spelt road signs so far, including at roundabouts. I have complained many times but nothing changes,” he said.
The signage for major roads in Delhi have the names first written in Hindi, followed by English, Gurmukhi, and then Urdu.
For example, Jai Singh road has been translated in Punjabi to Jai Saghi road; and Janpath, which is one of the main roads in New Delhi running perpendicular to Kartavya Path (earlier Rajpath) has an “h” missing in the transliteration.
ASIA SAMACHAR is an online newspaper for Sikhs / Punjabis in Southeast Asia and beyond. When you leave a comment at the bottom of this article, it takes time to appear as it is moderated by human being. Unless it is offensive or libelous, it should appear. You can also comment at Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. You can reach us via WhatsApp +6017-335-1399 or email: asia.samachar@gmail.com. For obituary announcements, click here
