Bhubaneswar, Nov 5: A day after the name of Orissa was officially changed to Odisha, the state today observed a holiday with the government describing the step as “historic”.
The state which was formed on linguistic basis on April 1, 1936, was known as Orissa and its language was Oriya since then.
The name of Orissa was changed to Odisha and its language from Oriya to Odia following a presidential assent yesterday to the bill passed by Parliament.
An unanimous resolution had been passed in the state Assembly for change in the name of the state from Orissa to Odisha in 2008 which had received the nod of both the Houses of the Parliament in 2010.
As announced by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, state government offices, schools, colleges and educational institutions remained closed.
Banks also remained closed as the holiday was declared under the Negotiable Instruments Act, sources said. In the first official letter using Odisha in the letterhead, the Chief Minister thanked President Pratibha Patil for her “historic decision”.
There were celebrations with fire crackers burst at several places since last night following the notification.
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