Postal department releases spl cover on 'Joynagar-er Moa'
kolkata: The Department of Posts has released a special cover to popularise 'Joynagar –er Moa', which is a region and season specific sweetmeat in Bengal.
The unique delicacy from Joynagar of South 24-Parganas district is prepared from puffed rice of'Kanakchura', fresh date-palm jaggery, 'ghee', 'khoa kheer,' honey and cashewnuts. It received a GI (Geographical Indication) tag in 2015.
"Philately or issue of special cover serves to create documentary evidence of a particular product. Since, 'Joynagar-er Moa' had received the GI tag, we felt the need to create awareness of the same in the country as well as abroad. It is a step towards this direction," Niraj Kumar, postmastergeneral (Kolkata) said.
The postal department had earlier released special covers on Burdwan's 'Sitabhog' and 'Mihidana.' Special cover releases related to 'Himsagar' and 'Fajli' varieties of mangoes, Santipur saree and 'Tulaipanji' rice are onthe anvil.
Apart from senior officials of the postal department, officials from APEDA (Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority) and representatives of the manufacturers' association, Joyanagar Moa Nirmankari Society, were present during the official release programme, held in Baruipur.
The APEDA has played a crucial role in the export of 'moa' to Bahrain in January this year, for the first time.
As many as 46 manufacturers are registered with Joynagar MoaNirmankari Society and 25 of them have so far received the certificate to make the sweetmeat.
The history of this winter special delicacy dates back to1904, when Ashutosh Das, a resident of Das Para of Sreepur village in Joynagar, made it for the first time.
The GI registration is a kind of patenting, guaranteeing thefact that a particular product can only be made/grown in a particular way and only in a particular place/region for it to be considered genuine.
It helps the makers of the real products to increase their sales and widen their market by pushing their products through their certificates of genuineness.
