English spellings of 24 places to be changed

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has proposed to change the English spellings of 24 places, including some districts, to align them more closely with their pronunciation in Odia language, a notification by the Revenue and Disaster Management (R&DM) department said. In a notice on Wednesday, the department invited objections and suggestions from the public on the proposed changes.

Revenue Minister Suresh Pujari said this move is part of ensuring error-free official documentation and strengthening the cultural heritage of the State.

“All stakeholders likely to be affected by the proposed changes are hereby invited to submit their objections or suggestions, if any, in writing, along with supporting documents, to the undersigned within 15 days from the date of publication of this public notice,” the R&DM department said.

The notice also mentioned that late submissions of objections will not be entertained.

“In case no objection is received within the prescribed time, it shall be presumed that there is no objection from the public, and the government may proceed further in the matter as per law,” it added.

The State government had earlier changed the English spelling of the State’s name from “Orissa” to “Odisha” in 2011, and the spelling of the State’s language from “Oriya” to “Odia”, in line with the Odia script.

Among the proposed changes are renaming Khurda district to “Khoradha”, Balasore to Baleshwar, Keonjhar to Kendujhar, Deogarh to Debagarh, Angul to Anugol, Nayagarh to Nayagada, and Kendrapara to Kendrapada.