Maharashtra minister defends rule mandating Marathi language for cab drivers

Government not to extend 15 August deadline: Sarnaik

Earlier, Sarnaik stated the state government would not extend the 15 August deadline for non-Marathi-speaking autorickshaw and taxi drivers to acquire a ‘working knowledge’ of Marathi. He said, “Marathi is the language of Maharashtra, and drivers providing public transport services here should have basic functional knowledge of the language. We have given them sufficient time to learn Marathi. From August 15, functional Marathi will be mandatory for taxi and auto-rickshaw drivers in Maharashtra.”