Bhubaneswar, September 6 (Daily Kiran) : The Odisha government’s revenue and disaster management department has issued a directive to all district collectors, mandating the consistent use of newly revised English spellings for place names in government offices and institutions. This change is based on the Odia pronunciations of these names. An official shared this information on Sunday.
Dr. Arbind Kumar Padhi, the additional chief secretary of the department, has written to all collectors instructing them to thoroughly review the nameplates and signboards in government offices. They must ensure that the newly approved spellings are uniformly applied.
According to a Gazette notification released by the state government on June 22, 2026, government offices and institutions were required to adopt these new spellings within one month. Private and non-governmental organizations were given a six-month period to comply.
This decision has already been successfully implemented in several districts. Under these changes, for instance, Angul is to be spelled as ‘Anugola’, Balasore as ‘Baleshwar’, Kendrapara remains ‘Kendrapara’, and Cuttack is to be written as ‘Katka’. Government bodies are gradually adopting these new spellings.
Officials noted that some government offices are still using the old English spellings on their signboards. Therefore, collectors have been instructed to ensure that the government-approved spellings, such as ‘Jaipur’ and ‘Sora’, replace the outdated versions ‘Jaypur’ and ‘Soro’.
The department emphasized the importance of maintaining uniformity and consistency in the names of government locations to properly implement the cabinet’s decision. Continuing to use the old spellings could lead to discrepancies in government names and undermine the purpose of the decision.
Accordingly, collectors have been tasked with personally reviewing the implementation status in all government offices, institutions, and other establishments in their districts, ensuring the new English spellings are used on all government signboards and nameplates. The department also advised collectors to encourage private and non-governmental institutions to adopt the revised spellings within the stipulated time frame and to promote their widespread use.
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