Bengalis can avail special courier service of Indian Post Dept to send rasgulla abroad

The residents of West Bengal will be able to send favourite sweetmeat ‘rasgulla’ to their relatives and friends in abroad on the occasion of Durga Puja through a special courier service at an extremely affordable rate introduced by the West Bengal Circle of the Indian Postal Department.

However, sources from the postal department, said the only condition to avail this special service for sending ‘packaged rasgullas’ and the responsibility of such packaging of the consignments will rest on the sender.

“Some of the private courier services companies are already offering servicing for sending packaged sweetmeats consignments abroad already. However, the rates charged by them are quite high. However, the services to be rendered by the West Bengal Circle of the Indian Postal Department will be much cheaper than rates offered by the private entities,” said a senior official from the West Bengal Circle of the department.

He claimed although the department is popularising the project associating it with ‘rasgullas’, considering the global acclaim this favourite Bengali sweetmeat has received, one can send other popular sweetmeats from the state to the near and dear ones.

“Even homemade sweetmeats, which are quite common during the festive season, can also be sent abroad through this special service. The only condition again is that the sender concerned will have to arrange for professional packaging of the food items they are sending abroad,” the Postal Department official said.

There were earlier instances where the Indian Postal Department associated itself with the global popularity of rasgulla. In January 2018, the department recognised West Bengal’s iconic sweetmeat maker, Nabin Chandra Das, accepted as the investor of rasgulla in 1868, with a stamp and special cover. The development surfaced after this favourite sweetmeat of Bengalis was granted the Geographical Indication (GI) status that year.