Odia Pride / District Collectors In Odisha Asked to Ensure Revised English Spellings on Government Signboards

Bhubaneswar, Sep 6: The Odisha Revenue and Disaster Management Department has directed all District Collectors to ensure uniform use of revised English spellings of place names in line with their Odia pronunciation across government offices and institutions.

Revenue and Disaster Management Department Additional Chief Secretary Arabinda Kumar Padhee has written to all Collectors, asking them to ensure that nameplates and signboards of all government offices and institutions in their respective districts carry the revised spellings.

Revised Spellings Already Notified
The directive follows a state Cabinet decision on standardising English spellings of various place names to better reflect their Odia pronunciation.

According to a Gazette notification issued by the Odisha government on June 22, government offices and institutions were given one month to implement the revised spellings on their signboards. Private and non-government institutions were given six months to make the changes.

The revised spellings include Anugola for Angul, Baleshwar for Balasore, Kendrapada for Kendrapara and Kataka for Cuttack.

The government has noted that the revised spellings have already been implemented successfully in several districts.

Old Spellings Still Seen On Signboards
However, the state government has observed that some government offices continue to display old English spellings on their signboards.

Among these are “Jeypore” and “Soro”, which have been replaced by the government-approved spellings “Jayapur” and “Sora”, respectively.

The Collectors have been asked to review the signboards of all government offices, institutions and other government establishments in their districts and ensure consistent and appropriate use of the revised spellings.

They have also been urged to encourage private and non-government institutions to positively adopt the changes and use the revised spellings extensively.

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Collectors Asked To Submit Compliance Reports
The Revenue Department has accorded the exercise the highest priority and directed Collectors to take necessary steps to ensure complete implementation.

They have also been instructed to submit compliance reports within one week, detailing the action taken to implement the revised English spellings across their respective districts.