Haryana grants second language status to Punjabi

CHANDIGARH - Accepting a long-pending demand, the Harayana government has notified Punjabi as the states second language, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda announced Thursday.

Hooda told reporters here that any person could now communicate with the state government and its agencies in Punjabi and also any legislator could now ask any question in Punjabi language in the assembly.

Punjabi will now be officially treated in the same way as Hindi or English, he said.

Haryana has had a big chunk of Punjabi-speaking population since the state was carved out of Punjab in 1966.