Mamata regrets Bangladesh decision of not supplying Hilsa fish

Kolkata, July 02 (HS): Chief minister Mamata Banerjee today regretted that in spite of being a friendly neighbour Bangladesh has stopped export of Hisla fish to India and to West Bengal in particular because of ”our inabilities to supply them with enough water from the river Teesta”.

Replying to a related query from party legislator Rahima Bibi during the Question hour at the West Bengal Legislative Assembly here today, the Chief minister informed that the West Bengal government had  already started a Research Programme on the increase of productivity of Hilsa fish, one of the most favourite delicacies of Bengali people who love to eat fish,in the state,in order to become self sufficient in the production of this particular type of very tasty and favourite fish.

But it would take a few more years to complete the research and meet the entire demand of the state as well as the country, she said.

‘Till then we expected to get the necessary supply of this very tasty Hisla fish from Bangladesh’, she said but regretted that because of some disputes at the government level regarding the supply of water from the Teesta river in North Bengal to Bangladesh during summer,they had stopped supply of Hilsa (fish) from their country to India and to West Bengal in particular,thereby depriving a large chunk of people in the state from enjoying the superlative taste of Hilsa fish from Bangladesh.

‘How can we supply them more water from the river Teesta when we ourselves do not get enough water  from the river round the year’,she said and once again regretted the decision of the Bangladesh government.

It may be recalled that though the Government of India, in consultation with the West Bengal government has communicated to Bangladesh authorities about its inability to supply more water from that once mighty river of North Bengal (because of not having enough water in the river to spare), they were not ready to accept the regret and have been continuing their demand for more water to them round the year.