BHUBANESWAR: After the controversy over famed Sri Ganeet saree last year, the fight over ownership of another uniquely designed Sambalpuri Bandha (tie and dye) saree has come to fore in Western Odisha.
This time, it is the 'Maa' saree which has the word woven onto the six-yard fabric in 13 different languages of India. The Maa saree was originally designed by Prafulla Meher, a technical assistant of Textiles and Handlooms department of the Odisha government and woven by Biswanath Meher of Tikirapada village in Subarnapur district who won a National Award for it in 2015. Prafulla had also designed the Sri Ganeet saree in the past.
However, a Subarnapur town-based businessman Rajesh Meher is now claiming to have designed the Maa saree during the lockdown last year. Terming Rajesh's claim as shocking, Biswanath said he had sought help from Prafulla in 2012-13 for creating a saree that he could send for National Award nomination.
"He had created the design and I weaved two pieces of the saree which were sent for the National Award in 2015. The Central government selected the saree and Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented the award at Chennai on the occasion of National Handlooms Day on August 7," he said, adding that since then he has sold 100 pieces of the saree, both in cotton and silk, till date.
Rajesh, on the other hand, said he had come up with the design following consultation with his brothers. "This is one of the many designs that we have in our design bank," he said.
Stating that he would file a police complaint against Rajesh for stealing his design, Biswanath said he will approach the Handlooms department authorities for help in registering the design. "Had the design been registered under Intellectual Property Rights, such ownership issues would not have risen in the first place," said Prafulla.