First consignment of 45 mt of Bangladeshi Hilsa reaches Bengal

The first consignment of around 45 metric tonnes of Hilsa fish reached West Bengal from Bangladesh on Thursday ahead of the festive Durga Puja season, an official said.

Nine trucks carrying the silver crop of water entered the state through the Petrapole border in North 24 Parganas district.

Dhaka's Chief Controller of Imports and Exports issued licences to 79 exporters who would be able to supply 50 metric tonnes of Hilsa each.

"Altogether 40-45 metric tonnes of Hilsa reached from Bangladesh today. The fish will be sent to various markets across the state such as Kolkata, Siliguri and Murshidabad," Customs clearing agent Firoj Mandal said.

The Hilsa will hit the markets within a week, he said.

"This is the first consignment. Altogether 3,950 metric tonnes of Hilsa will be exported by Bangladesh," Mandal said.

While most of the prized Hilsa from Bangladesh will be taken up by markets in West Bengal, traders said significant quantities were also sold in Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai for fish lovers there.

Officials said all exports will have to be completed by the deadline of October 30 as fishing for Hilsa is paused for sometime from October 12, to allow the fish to breed.

Mintu Pal, 42, a wholesale dealer of marine products here, said, "Padma Hilsa gets snapped up in the market regardless of the price. This export by Bangladesh ahead of the pujas will make markets buoyant despite the large quantities being offered as they will pull up prices and demand, in any case, goes up this season." Hilsa from Bangladesh's Padma and Meghna rivers and from Chandpur where the two rivers meet has long been prized by Hilsa connoisseurs as among the tastiest of fishes.

The news of the arrival of the silver crop was greeted by fishermen's bodies and restaurant owners.

Bijan Maity of Kakdwip Fishermen's Association, one of the leading organisations of fishermen in the state, told PTI: ''As the Hilsa yield here has come to a trickle, the market is flooded by Hilsa from Myanmar, Gujarat and Mumbai which lacks taste." Kartik Saha of Maniktala Bazar Samity, one of the biggest retail and wholesale fish markets in Kolkata said that the average Bengali, who is a lover of fish, will now be able to have quality Hilsa till the end of October. Ranjan Biswas, one of the co-owners of Bengali fine dining restaurant 'Saptapadi', said ''Hilsa is an emotion and to retain that in the festive season is a good step. If we get quality Hilsa at a reasonable rate, we can prepare boneless dishes which will yield more flesh and can be targetted to even non-Bengali patrons who are generally scared of bones,'' he said. "We will try to give a spin to our dishes by trying fusion Hilsa items aimed at cosmopolitan customer profile,'' said Suporatik Ghosh, owner of Ambrosia Restaurant & Bar. Sukumar Das, a fish seller in a market in south Kolkata, said people like him sell Hilsa procured from Diamond Harbour and Kolaghat near Kolkata. "But Hilsa from the Padma river is more sought after by customers here and is priced higher," he said. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had taken an initiative a few years ago to allow exports of Hilsa ahead of the Durga Puja on a request by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as part of what is now referred to as "Hilsa diplomacy."

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)