We need more time, shop owners tell Raj Thackeray

A delegation of shop owners on Friday requested Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray to extend the deadline for Marathi signboards by three months.

"We have requested Raj to give us three months more to change the signboards on the shops," president of Fort Merchants Welfare Association Ashok Patel told media persons in Mumbai, after a meeting with Raj at his residence in Central Mumbai.

Raj Thackeray had on Thursday backed off from his threat to shop owners over the signboards issue after the Bombay High Court stepped to restrain the MNS from indulging in violence observing that nobody can 'hold the people to ransom'.

The

court observation appeared to have a salutary effect on Raj, who said he would be happy if the BMC and the government implemented an old rule stipulating mandatory signboards in Marathi.

Meanwhile, the delegation said most of the shop owners have put up Marathi signboards and the remaining will soon do.

With festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi, Dusshera and Diwali round the corner, shop owners need some time to put up Marathi boards and change interior of the shops accordingly, they said.

The delegation has also written to BMC Commissioner Jairaj Phatak to increase the time period for putting up Marathi signboards by three months.