Balangir: Koshal Sahitya Sanskriti Academy secretary Gorekhnath Sahu has called upon activists, scholars and intellectuals of the Koshal region to work for uplift of the Koshali language.

Speaking to reporters here on Friday, Sahu expressed concern over the relentless effort by a section of people, who did not approve of Koshali as a separate language and had caused much damage to it. "The time has come for the activists, scholars and intellectuals of the region to rise up to the occasion and work for their mother land which is Koshal," Sahu said.

He said: "Both the Koshal land and the Koshali language need to be liberated from the clutch of the people, who have been ruling us for so long. The literary and cultural movement of Koshal must go alongside the political movement for the separate Koshal state. Our entire solutions lie on the formation of Koshal state," he said.

Academy president Srinibas Udgata said Koshali can never be Odia.

"Koshali is not a dialect, and it is a complete language. It is not Odia. This state government has accepted this and sent its proposal to the Centre to include Koshali in the 8th schedule of the Constitution. It is a very old language and its origin dates back to the era of the Ramayan. It is older than many other major Indian languages," he said.

Udgata said it was unfortunate that many people from Odisha, who lived in states such as Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, were referred to as Odias, though they all are actually from the Koshal region.

"Those from Odisha, who have resided in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand before formation of separate Odisha state, are from Sambalpur, Sundargarh, Balangir and Kalahandi districts, and they speak Koshali language. Yet efforts are always there by a section of people who brand them as Odias," he said.