By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, January 12, 2018: Odisha belatedly on Thursday filed application seeking Geographical Indication (GI) tag for Kandhamal Haladi (turmeric).

The application was finally filed by the Intellectual Property Facilitation Centre (IPFC) of Central Tool Room & Training Centre (CTTC) at GI office in Chennai, according to CTTC’s IPFC chief Sachikanta Kar. It could take one year or more for getting the GI status for the Kandhamal Haladi, he said.

Odisha Horticulture Directorate, Kasam members and Kandhamal Collector for the past two months have been virtually pushing IPFC for applying for the GI status to Kandhamal turmeric.

Earlier, Odisha government had formed an eight-member technical committee to file application. The committee comprised of agriculture scientists, district forest officer, horticulture deputy director, NGO representatives, Kasam’s secretary, CTTC’s Intellectual Property Facilitation Centre (IPFC) head and one advisor of CTTC as members.

The panel had discussed with the local turmeric farmers, Kandhamal collector and farmers belonging to ‘Kasam’ – a farmers’ group following reviewing the quality of turmeric and before submitting a report about the process of filing an application for GI status for Kandhamal Haladi.