The number of notifications in Odia language published in the Odisha Gazette has been decreasing over the years even as Odisha Assembly enacted a law making Odia the official language of the State.
Of the notifications published in the Gazette in 2015, only 10 per cent were drafted in Odia language, while the rest notifications were in English.
Replying to a question of Dilip Ray in the State Assembly on Saturday, Transport Minister Ramesh Chandra Majhi informed the House that the notifications are published in the Government Press in language sought by the concerned departments.
Minister Majhi said in 2012, 2,508 notifications were published in the Odisha Gazette, out of which 882 were in Odia. In 2013, out of 2,642 notifications, 882 were published in Odia. Similarly, 2,348 notifications were published in the Gazette in 2014, out of which, 344 were published in Odia.
In 2015, out of 1,859 notifications, only 186 were in Odia.
From 2012 to 2015, a total of 7,063 Gazette notifications were published including 2,294 in Odia language.
Ray lamented that irrespective of the Orissa Official language Act 1954 and classical status to Odia language by the Central Government, the State Government was not much interested to draft all official correspondences, including Gazette notifications, in Odia.