TN CM bats for voluntary steps by traders to put up nameboards in Tamil

Chennai:  Traders should voluntarily come forward to display on nameboards, the names of their shops in Tamil language, Chief Minister M K Stalin said here on Tuesday.

Addressing a meeting of members of the Tamil Nadu Traders Welfare Board at the Secretariat, Stalin said the board, which was set up by late Chief Minister M Karunanidhi in 1989, is functioning well.

When the president of the traders body, Tamil Nadu Vanigar Sangangalin Peramaippu, A M Vikramaraja and other office-bearers met him recently, they assured him that steps would be taken to install nameboards in Tamil in all the shops of Tamil Nadu, the chief minister said.

Such action should be voluntary in nature rather than traders doing it based on the government telling them, he emphasised.

Nobody should comment that the Tamil language could not be spotted in the streets of Tamil Nadu, he said, referring to nameboards, and added that traders should, on their own volition, come forward to change the display of names in Tamil language.

Detailing the welfare initiatives under the auspices of the board, he said: “After this government assumed office, 8,883 traders have received various kinds of financial assistance and Rs 3.29 crore assistance has been provided. You know well that the DMK government’s motto is everything for everyone.” Such initiatives will continue in the future as well and board members may at any time make representations directly to him or ministers. “There must be no intermediaries between us.” After the DMK government assumed power in May 2021, as many as 40,994 new members enrolled in the board after the government waived the membership fee from July 15,2021 to March 31, 2022.

“I am happy to inform you that the total number of traders registered so far under the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, TN Value Added Tax Act and the TN Goods and Services Tax Act has increased to 88,219.” The CM appealed to the board members to increase the number of traders registered under such Acts before the next meeting of the board.