English spellings of 12 dist names changed

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha govt on Monday revised the English spellings of names of 64 places, including 12 districts, through a notification aimed at standardising transliteration in line with Odia usage.Among the districts affected are Angul (Anugola), Bolangir (Balangir), Balasore (Baleshwar), Bargarh (Baragada), Cuttack (Kataka), Deogarh (Debagada), Kandhamal (Kandhamala), Kendrapara (Kendrapada), Keonjhar (Kendujhar), Khurda (Khordha), Nayagarh (Nayagada) and Sundargarh (Sundaragada).Apart from these, Kalahandi district headquarters Bhawanipatna will now be spelled as Bhawanipatana, while Subarnapur district headquarters Sonepur will be spelled as Sonpur.The revenue and disaster management department’s notification also covers several other towns and urban centres across districts, revising their English spellings to better reflect phonetic pronunciation in Odia. Officials said the changes will be used in govt records, signages and official communication going forward.Spelling of two prominent cities have been changed. Rourkela will now be spelled as Raurkela while Berhampur spelling has been revised to Brahmapur. Coal town Talcher will now be spelled as Talacher. Earlier, the state cabinet approved the change in spellings on June 13. A high-level committee, led by literary personality Pratibha Ray, had examined and recommended the revised English spellings.