The

Development Authority (

), which wrote a strong letter to the government demanding action against

(

) for violating Karnataka's two-language policy, did not always have the same opinion on the issue, documents with TOI show.

In an official communication to BMRC on July 7, 2015, the KDA had said: “All name boards of BMRC should follow the three-language policy, with prominence to Kannada and be in all three languages.“

The BMRC, which has drawn flak from pro-Kannada activists for violating the state's two-language policy, on the other hand, has been writing to the government seeking directions on language since 2015. The corporation, in more than two letters to the government since 2015, argued that it's only a SPV (special purpose vehicle) and not a central PSU, and that the rules of Official Languages Act, 1963 shouldn't be applicable to it.

Seeking directions from the state and asking the government to get clarity on the Centre's directions mandating use of three languages, BMRC managing director Pradeep Singh Kharola, in a letter dated June 21, 2016, said: “Serious problems may arise in case we follow the Centre's direction; there may be unrest in the state, especially Bengaluru.“

Said KDA chairperson S G Siddaramaiah: “That was a mistake and I don't want to comment on actions taken by any former chairperson. Our stand is now clear and we have communicated the same to BMRC.“

Mukhyamantri Chandru, former chairperson of KDA, while agreeing with Siddaramaiah, said the previous communication now stands “nulland-void“.

Safety Certification Violation

Among other things that the BMRC expressed concern was the fact that implementing a twolanguage policy could be seen as a violation of safety certificate norms.In a letter to the government dated March 3, 2017, Kharola said: “In the safety certificate issued by the

, we have been told that three languages must be used for all safety-related instructions or alerts to both workersemployees and passengers, including those messages indicating the 750-watt third rail.“

Clarity Elusive

Even as activists and writers seeking removal of Hindi from Metro name boards and signages have turned their attention to other issues relating to language equality, the government is yet to officially write to BMRC about re-designing its boards.While chief minister Siddaramaiah, in a letter to Union urban development minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Friday, said he was “compelled“ to instruct the BMRC to “temporarily“ re-design its name boards, the corporation is still waiting for an official communication.