Aiming to give Marathi language a global status, Chief Minister Ashok Chavan has asked IT firms to prepare software with Marathi fonts.

"Marathi is the local language of Maharashtra. We are looking forward to give it global recognition. For this we would like IT companies to develop softwares with Marathi fonts which could be globally accepted," Chavan said at IT awards function at Mumbai on August, 20.

Marathi language is used in all government and semi-government organisations as an official language, he said.

"Most of our offices are IT-enabled. The state has been able to efficiently manage all its departments through e-governance system. We want to reach out to the masses by using the technology for systematic implementation of the government's services," he added.