Bangladeshi expatriates have protested against the publication of misspelled Bengali notices and distribution of circulars in government institutions in New York, USA, and have demanded that they be corrected.
At a meeting in New York on Saturday, the Gaibandha Society of America called for unity among expatriates to introduce 'pure Bangla' in various institutions, including city offices, schools and hospitals.
The organizers said they have been trying this for three years. After collecting public signatures, a memorandum has been submitted to the concerned department. But the correct spelling has not been introduced yet.
The meeting was moderated by Dilip Kumar and chaired by the organization's president Sanjeevan Sarkar. The chief guest was Democratic Party District Leader Dilip Nath.
Dilip Nath, a member of the Language Services Committee of the Mayor's Office, said, "After more than two decades of deliberation, it has been possible to include Bengali along with 17 other languages in important offices including the city office, the Board of Elections office, schools and hospitals. In the beginning, there was no limit to spelling and sentence mistakes. In the beginning, there was no funding to correct spelling mistakes or to hire staff to serve them correctly. However, over time, the level of mistakes in the notices that are now being distributed by the Education Department has reduced significantly."
Dilip Nath mentioned that full-time translators are needed for the correct use of the language everywhere. For this, funds are needed. That has to be approved by the state parliament. The funding problem can be solved by strengthening the dialogue with the state senators and assemblymen.
Minhaj Ahmed Sammu, who works as a Bengali translator in the Education Department, said, "Initially, there was no manpower. At that time, there were translators for 9 languages in the Education Department, of which I was the only one for Bengali. Later, four people were appointed, but it was far less than the requirement."
Heroic freedom fighter Lablu Ansar said, "I brought the community's reaction to the misspelling to the attention of City Comptroller Brad Lander a few years ago. Even before that, I filed a written complaint with the Education Department demanding the distribution of notices with the correct spelling. The extent of progress made can be estimated from today's discussion."
Ishrat Jahan, Head of Chancery of the Consulate, mentioned that the Bangladesh Consulate in New York will also provide assistance in realizing the Gaibandha Society's demand.
Gaibandha Society General Secretary Reza Rahman said, "We will issue a memorandum again calling for the removal of the spelling errors. I hope other community organizations and the Bangladesh Society will give importance to the issue."
