The State Government on Saturday decided to observe March 11 as ‘Shastriya Odia Bhasa Divas,’ to mark the first anniversary of Odia language getting classical status. A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the Shastriya Bhasa Advisory Committee presided over by Tourism and Culture Minister Ashok Panda at the State Secretariat here.
The meeting discussed the setting up of a Central institute on Odia language and decided to request the Centre to allocate funds for this purpose. For coordination of various ongoing work relating to classical Odia of the proposed Central institute, it was decided that a special cell would be set up at the Odisha Sahitya Akademi.
Besides, a committee of representatives of the Culture department would visit Tamil Nadu and Kerala to study the functioning of the cell. Tourism and Culture Secretary Arvinda Padhee hailed eminent litterateurs and all those whose relentless efforts resulted in Odia language being accorded the classical language tag.