Odia language activist and a native of Seraikela has written to Union rail minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday about the need for writing leading auto-ancillary hub Adityapur’s railway station name in Odia.

Kartik Kumar Parichha, who is also a media professional has in the letter to the Odisha cadre IAS, Ashwini Vaishnaw, has also informed about the deletion of names of stations that were earlier written in Odia in the Seraikela-Kharsawan district while presenting historical data on the association of Odiya speaking people in the Adityapur-Gamharia belt in Seraikela-Kharsawan district of Jharkhand which contains more than 1,400 auto ancillary hub and is known as one of the largest auto-ancillary hubs of the eastern region.

As of now the names of Adityapur and other railway stations in the Seraikela-Kharsawan district are written in Hindi and English.

“Adityapur derives its name from Raja Aditya Pratap Singhdeo, the last ruler of Seraikela princely state. In the past, Seraikela and Kharsawan have been two indigenous princely states of Odisha. The Britishers had talked to the rulers of Seraikela and Kharsawan in 1884-85 for the need of rail for transportation of mineral wealth, increasing traffic and for administrative purpose,” the letter states.

The letter further adds that “an agreement was signed on 11 August 1888 between the rulers of Seraikela and Kharsawan and Bengal Nagpur Railway Company in which the lands given to the railways. In this area, a new line was laid on 22 January 1890 from Howrah to Nagpur in the middle of Seraikela, Kharsawan state.”

The letter informed that these documents are in the Railway Office located at Chakradharpur Division or in South Eastern Railway headquarters at Garden Reach, Calcutta. It also informs that Chakradharpur town is also named after Odia Raja Chakradhar Singh, which hosts the divisional office of the South Eastern Railway.

“Odia language is spoken in every village of the Chakradharpur area and also in Seraikela-Kharsawan district and if the stations’ name is not written in Odia it will destroy the historical identity of the Odia speaking people in the region,” the letter adds.

The letter concludes that even after Independence Seraikela was also a revenue district of Odisha and the district magistrate was from an Odisha cadre Durga Das.