Odia missing from milestones, CM seeks Gadkari's intervention

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday sought Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari’s intervention over non-inscription of Odia script on kilometer stones, information boards and National Highways in the state.

“It is a matter of grave concern that the local language Odia has mostly been ignored in place identification/destination boards and in the kilometer stones on the National Highways throughout the state,” Patnaik wrote in a letter to Gadkari.

Patnaik further said that the Ministry’s instruction via 2004 circular is not being followed in Odisha. The circular clearly states that all information boards should invariably inscribed in three scripts—local, Devnagari and Roman.

Local language should be used in kilometer stones in isolation on every 2^nd and 4^th  kilometer  stones in combination with Roman  and 0^th and 5^th kilometer  in combination with Hindi on first, third and sixth kilometer stones.

“I am deeply anguished to find that the Ministry’s instructions are not being followed in our state. I would request you to look into the matter and issue appropriate instructions to the concerned authorities to follow the guidelines scrupulously,” Patnaik wrote.