Bangladesh hilsa import banned, tables likely to go empty

Supplies from neighbouring country hit by sanitary regulations, ban on road cargo

The fish-eater is likely to go without his 'hilsa' this season - a development that is bound to cast a pall of gloom over all Bengali households.

This danger is real, according to the Hilsa Fresh Fish Importers Association (HFHIA).

HFHIA imports around 5000 ton of fresh hilsa every season worth Rs 50 crore from Bangladesh.

Unfortunately, in a most unneighbourly gesture, hilsa imports have been suddenly barred.

The cut-off date was May 16, 2005, when the department of animal husbandry and dairying, ministry of agriculture of the government of India, emerged as the villain of the piece.

"By a sudden directive issued by the department of agriculture in December 2004, import of livestock was barred without a valid 'sanitary import permit' (SIP). On request from importers like us, the special 'no objection certificate' (NOC) issued by the department's regional office of animal quarantine and certification services (AQ&CS) at Kolkata was accepted under a unique arrangement till May 16, but after that date this arrangement was stopped," said Alhaj Syed Anwar Maqsood, secretary of HFFIA.

He said the department had already issued a notice that SIP could not be issued for import of hilsa by road from Bangladesh, the only logical route from the neighbouring country.

Due to the unique nature of the commodity "" fresh hilsa "" the shortest and only feasible mode of transport was road through Petrapole land customs on the Bangladesh border, explained Maqsood.

In the midst of this crisis, the importers have been left with no choice but to inform all buyers that they could not supply imported hilsa, he added.

This has pushed up prices of hilsa to around Rs 300 per kg for the last two weeks, against Rs 150-200 per kg under normal conditions.

Many restaurants have knocked off hilsa from their menus, but one serving the fish said they were getting supplies at the price.

The market for fresh hilsa was as large as Rs 100 crore a month in peak season, typically from June to November.

Domestic production of the silvery fish was far short of demand, but supplies from southern India and Myanmar were reportedly still coming in.

The association has already informed the chief minister of West Bengal, Buddhadev Bhattacharjee, about the crisis and also filed complaints at the office of the directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT) in Kolkata.

"This would lead to emergence of a black market in hilsa, but then also the supply would be grossly insufficient as compared to the large demand," warned Maqsood.

HFFIA had around 30-40 large hilsa importers as members and was the leading agency supplying fresh hilsa to nearly all the major fish markets in West Bengal like Patipukur, Howrah, Sealdah, Ranaghat, Barasat and Siliguri.Consequently, hilsa prices would be beyond the reach of most buyers, at three to four times the average price in normal years, added Maqsood.