The Orissa government will have all its websites in the local Oriya language from April 1, the formation day of the state, officials said Tuesday.

At present the state government has its website in English. Similarly all the government departments and the 30 districts have their own websites in English.

The state-run Orissa Sahitya Akademi has been assigned the task of developing and editing the contents for the Oriya sites, according to Baisnaba Prasad Mohanty, state director of information and public relations department.

"They have been told to make the contents ready by March 23 so that on Orissa formation day it could go online," Mohanty told "Although the websites would be in Oriya, the English version will also remain online."

Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was the target of criticism from opposition parties in the state for not being able to speak in Oriya, the state's mother tongue. However, in recent months he has been delivering his speeches in Oriya.

Former chief minister J.B. Patnaik was instrumental in making Oriya the official language when he was at the helm. He directed officials and ministers not to use English in official communications and introduced a large number of typewriters with the Oriya script in the state secretariat.

But later the Oriya typewriters disappeared as well as the use of Oriya in official communications.