Cutting across party lines, members in the State Assembly have expressed serious concern over the fact that Odia language is not being used in full in official works despite directives by the State Government way back in April 6, 1985 under the Odisha Official language Act 1954.
Directives have been issued by the Government at least 15 times since 1985 to make sure that Odia becomes the lingua franca in all official correspondences and file notes.
During the Question Hour on Saturday, Commerce and Transport Minister Ramesh Majhi admitted that in spite of repeated Government directives to all departments, Odia is still not being used by most officials for correspondences and file works. He said that out of a total of 11,298 Government letters issued over the years, only 5,042 were in Odia.