Bengal submits application for rosogolla GI tag

Kolkata, Sept 30: West Bengal has submitted the application for a (Geographical Indication) GI tag for the rosogolla to stake claim on the sugary delicacy and beat Odisha, a minister said.

"We have filed an application for GI on September 18 with full support from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee," Rabiranjan Chattopadhyay, science and technology minister, said on Tuesday here.

The syrupy, soft spongy balls of Indian cottage cheese, the rosogollas, have virtually unleashed a war between two Indian states.

Both Odisha and West Bengal have entered the fray to stake their claim on the famed dessert.

The Odisha government recently decided to form three committees which will counter Bengal's claim as the birthplace of rosogolla.

But Chattopadhyay said the state government is not considering forming any such committees at the moment to counter the move.

Bengal is claiming that Nabin Chandra Das had introduced the sweet in 1868, while the Odisha government said the tradition of offering rosogolla by Lord Jagannath to Goddess Laxmi on the day of Niladri Bije (the day when the deities return to their abode after the annual Rath Yatra) is at least 300 years old indicating it was much older than the 150-year history of Bengal's rosogolla.

"Bengal is the birth place of rosogolla and we prepared a detailed dossier on its origins based on evidence from Das family and historian Haripada Bhowmik. There is no question on the origins as far as Bengal is concerned," the minister said.

IANS