Odisha changes spellings of 64 places

Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s ‘Millennium City’ Cuttack will now be officially spelled as Kataka, as the State government updated the English spellings of 64 places, including districts, sub-divisions, tehsils, blocks and urban bodies. Similarly, Balasore will now be written as ‘Baleshwar’ and Rourkela as “Raurkela”.

Officials clarified that the corrections apply only to English spellings and do not alter the actual names of administrative units. A notification issued by the Revenue and Disaster Management department said that the modification of names is done with a view to preserving the linguistic and cultural identity of Odisha and restoring and standardising the English spellings of the names in the State in conformity with Odia phonetics.

“The corrections effected herein relate solely to the English spellings of the administrative units concerned and shall not be construed as effecting any change in their names,” it said. The changes in the spelling are undertaken to correct the colonial-era “distorted” English spellings for 64 locations across 26 districts.

Earlier this month, the State Cabinet approved these corrections as several places in the State continued to be officially recorded with “anglicised or misspelt” names that do not align with Odia pronunciation and etymology.

For instance, “Aali” is the correct phonetic of the place while it is now being written as “Aul”. Similarly, “Balasore” is replaced with “Baleshwar”. Most notable changes after notification would be Kataka in place of Cuttack, Rourkela as “Raurkela”.

Several other district headquarters and major towns have also undergone spelling revisions based on Odia pronunciation. This initiative is expected to bring uniformity across official records, maps, signage, and government communications, reducing confusion arising from anglicised or inconsistent spellings while maintaining the phonetic integrity of Odia names.