Dikhyaa Mohanty 
With a socio-cultural organisation raising the issue with the Governor, the quest for GI designation for Odisha’s well-known sweet food, “Chhenapoda” (baked cheese), has gathered traction. The Nayagarh Bikasha Mancha presented a memorandum outlining their ten requests, including the Geographical Index (GI) certification for Chhenapoda, to Governor Prof. Ganeshi Lal on Tuesday at Raj Bhavan in Bhubaneswar.
The Mancha members requested the Governor’s help in hastening the Chhenapoda GI tag procedure and in setting up a cluster for the people who have been working on it for many generations. They also called for increased food product research, technical training, financial incentives for individuals involved in producing the well-known sweet foodstuff. They urged that the deteriorated birthplace of the state’s well-known astronomer Pathani Samanta in Khandapada be turned into a national historic landmark.
The improvement of the Jadumani Mahapatra poet’s birthplace, the establishment of the proposed “Mung” processing industry in Nayagarh, and the building of a wide road connecting Bhubaneswar with Kontilo, the original Jagannath shrine, were among their other demands. The Mancha also sought a Pantha Nivas in Kantilo and boating facilities for visitors on the Mahanadi river. “Sugarcane growers should get financial and technical help, and the Nayagarh sugar mill should be restarted.
Natural streams in various sections of the district should be connected by enlarged roads, and the historic Buddhist monastery Jogijogiani’ in the Khandapada block should be renovated. The Bhapur block’s Tarabalo, home to India’s biggest hot spring, needs to be renovated. The town of Nayagarh should have a life-size statue of Samanta Chandrasekhara, according to the document.
