Bhubaneswar: The Labour and Employees' State Insurance Department of Odisha Tuesday launched an online portal www.odiaphalaka.odisha.gov.in to allow public to lodge grievances and complaints regarding violation of Odisha Shops and Commercial Establishments (OS&CE Amendment) Bill-2018 making Odia language mandatory on signboards on shops and commercial establishments in the State.
The revision was approved by the State Cabinet last year in March 2018 and subsequently passed in Odisha Assembly.
As per the amendment, shops and commercial establishments shall display signboard in odia language prominently if they have displayed signboard in other languages. It will be considered as an offence if the names are not displayed in Odia and the violators would be penalised as per the new provision.
Previously there was no provision to compel the employers of shops and establishments to display sign boards in Odia language due to which general public faced difficulties in identifying several shops/ establishments. Hence the OS&CE Act has been suitably amended to make provision of display of sign board in Odia language prominently and enhancing the penalty for default.
Under the new act, if any employer violates this provision s/he would be penalised for minimum Rs 1,000 which may extend to Rs 10,000 and in case of subsequent offences, the penalty will be minimum Rs 2,000 which may extend up to Rs 20,000.