Some middlemen are taking away a huge chunk of profit by acting as a broker between the fish producers and buyers. As a result of which the price of fish is inflating more than necessary. The state’s Fisheries Department has now started a retail counter called ‘Machher Majlish’ in Silchar to bring the fish prices under control by eliminating middleman. State Fisheries Minister Parimal Suklabaidya inaugurated the counter himself on Thursday afternoon. He was accompanied by Silchar MLA Dilip Kumar Paul, DIG Dilip Kumar Dey, District Magistrate Kirti Jalli and others. The Minister himself gifted fishes like boal, katla and chital etc to the guests.
Initiative has been taken to home deliver fish to the houses of people through ‘Fishery on Wheel’ method with the help of retail fish shops. Initially, three traders were provided with bikes and car to deliver fishes home. People can buy fresh fish at fair price by calling 8876411355 sitting at their home. Although the system will function limitedly in the initial stage, the government has plan to develop it in the future. This will provide job opportunities to the local youths as well as create an environment to deliver good quality fish at home.
Speaking to media, Parimal Suklabaidya said, “Like in agriculture, incase of fishes too the middlemen have been cheating producers for a long time and are selling them at exorbitant prices in the market for their personal gains. We have decided to break this chain and send fishes directly from the producers to the buyers. It will benefit the producers and the buyers will be able to eat good fish at affordable prices. Fishes will be sold at a controlled price, so there will be no black marketing. There is no fixed price for fishes in the state yet. We have plans to fix price of fishes based on areas. The fish which is being sold at Rs 500 per kg in Fatakbazar market can be sold at the retail counter at Rs 350 by us. This will effect the whole market and in turn the price of fishes will start falling slowly. Intermediate brokers won’t be able to cheat anymore. ” A few days ago, Parimal Suklabaidya said that fish was being smuggled from Bangladesh to India and there was a possibility of smuggling illegal goods to India intermingled with them. Reiterating this, he said, “Fish production in our state has increased so much that now there is no need to import fishes.
However, in some areas it is seen that imported fishes are being sold at very low prices. The fishes have entered India and are being sold in different parts of Cachar district at a much lower price than what is being sold in Bangladesh. We have already contacted the Bangladesh government and talked to the police in the three districts of the Barak Valley. Strict steps will be taken in the future to prevent this.” District Magistrate Keerthi Jalli said, “It is said that no one can beat the intelligence of Bengalis. The reason behind this is that Bengalis eat fish. The initiative taken by the State Government today will not only hand over high quality fish to the people but will open many avenues of livelihood. The youths will get involved in this noble initiative and find new ways of earning. In addition, the producers will get a lot of profit. I would like to thank the government for this.” In their speeches, MLA Dilip Kumar Paul and DIG Dilip Kumar Dey lauded Minister Parimal Suklabaidya and the State Government.