With shops closed, 1st anniv of GI tag for ‘rasagola’ leave bitter taste

Bhubaneswar: A year back, Odisha had got the Geographical Indication (GI) tag for its famed sweet dish ‘rasagola’. The tag was awarded for its unique taste. The awarding of the GI tag was celebrated with much fanfare. And while there were plans to make the first anniversary a roaring success this year, Covid-19 arrived and forced everything to the backburner.
With sweet shops shut amid lockdown restrictions to contain the virus, the state went online to celebrate the first anniversary, with posts and photos of the mouth-watering ‘rasagola’.
“Odias don’t need any occasion to eat rasagola. It is a must have in every household. Rasagola is a part of our meal but it is not very easy to prepare it at home. With the sweet shops closed, we are missing this important item in our platter,” said Bandana Kar, a homemaker.
Experts said apart from getting the GI tag, the next step now is to promote rasagola. “Rasagola makers should come forward to get registered as authorised users of the GI tag. They can have exclusive rights to use the GI tag with their products. Two from Odisha have applied for this, but more should come forward,” said Anita Sabat, researcher and campaigner for GI tag of ‘rasagola’.
Sweet makers said they are making very less sweets these days, and only when someone orders. The amount of ‘rasagolas’ being made is just one-fourth to what they used to make in the pre-Covid days. Though a few shops are selling ‘rasagola’ online, it is not even a small fraction of their daily sales during normal days.
“We are strictly following the guidelines of the government and are not opening our shops during the lockdown. Since there is a slump in business, many workers have gone back to their villages. So, we are making sweets only when we get an order or very little for online customers. Earlier, we used to make rasagola of at least 10 different varieties, but now only one type of the sweet is available,” said Bimbadhar Behera, owner of Nimapada sweets and secretary of Utkal Mistanna Byabasayee Sangha.
Sources said around 13,600 sweet makers in 6800 gram panchayats used to sell 1000 ‘rasagolas’ every day per shop with an annual turnover of nearly Rs 4000 crore. Sweet makers in small towns except Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Salepur, sold ‘rasagola’ worth Rs 800 crore per annum. In Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Pahala, the annual sale amounted to Rs 750 crore while in Salepur alone ‘rasagola’ worth Rs 58 crore per annum used to be sold.
“Selling sweets is a daily business. We prepare sweets for daily consumption and this lockdown has just spoiled everything. The wedding season went without a single order, so were the festivals. We are forced to shift jobs to make ends meet,” said Prasant Behera, a sweet maker in Pahala.
EoM