Bhubaneswar: In a bid to get Geographical Indication (GI) status for Rasagola (also known as Rasgola), the industry department of the Odisha government has written to the state administration recommending the Central Tool Room & Training Centre (CTTC) to make documents available for processing the application to claim that dessert has its origin in the state.
The CCTC will proceed to collect the documents and make it ready for applying to get GI tag for Rasagola once the state government gives its consent for the proposal.
"The historical evidence about origin of Rasagola in Odisha has been provided to the state government. Along with it, scientific proof is also required to claim the origins of the confection in the state. Therefore, the industry department is planning to assign the CTTC to make the documents ready required for the GI tag," industry director Niranjan Sahoo said on Saturday.
The government has formed an eight-member committee headed by Mr Sahoo to apply for the GI status.
The ongoing war between Odisha and West Bengal for patent over Rasagola had started two years ago. The Bengal government has already applied for the GI status for Rasagola with the National Biodiversity Authority claiming that Rasagola had its origins in the state.
Both governments are claiming that their respective state is the place of origin of Rasagola, which is made from Indian cottage cheese. Earlier, Odisha government had asked its science and technology department to apply for the patent as well as the GI tag for the syrupy delicacy.
A research cited that Rasagola existed in Odisha since 15th-16th century as it has been mentioned in the 'Dandee Ramayana'. Despite historical proof and evidence about origin of Rasagola, the state government did not proceed further to stake the claim that sweet had its origin in Odisha.
Jagannath-cult scholar Asit Mohanty has already submitted a 100-page report claiming that the confection originated in Odisha.
In a report to the state government, he said that the sweet was mentioned in Dandee Ramayana 16th century. The report claimed that the sweet was being offered to gods in temples for over 600 years.
