The New Nation - Internet Edition

Our Correspondent, Barisal

Hundreds tons of Hilsha fishes worth lakhs of taka being rotten due to acute crisis of ice production.

Power supply crisis created this situation and in recent days average hundred maunds Hilsha thrown in to the sea or river estuaries or concealed under earth after became rotten due to shortage of ice supply, said the Hilsha fishing related businessmen and fishermen.

Nishit Kumar Karmakar, assistant general manager of Patuakhali Palli Biddut Samity, acknowledging the facts said they average receive only one third supplies of the demand and so ice factories could not run to produce sufficient ice needed for preservation and processing of Hilsha fish.

As for example he said that Mohipur fishing port under Kalapara upazila of Patuakhali , one of the largest Hilsha wholesale center of the region daily need average 3 megawatts power supply, but getting only one megawatt.

Sources of the different parts of the Kalapara ,Patharghata, Daulatkhan-Charfession coastal fishing areas of Patuakhali ,Barguna and Bhola districts and wholesale market of Barisal city said daily production of ice in the local factories of the areas decreased to 3000-3500 cans against the minimum demands of 17 thousand cans per day. Situation is so grievous that deep sea fishing is stalled and fishes worth Tk. 40 lakhs became rotten and destroyed or thrown to sea or estuary since last week.

Golam Mustafa Chowdhury, advisor of Barguna district trawler owners association said 19 ice factories of Patharghata coastal area now can supply only highest one thousand cans of ice per day against the demands of 9 thousand cans per day due to lack of sufficient power supply.

About 8 cans ice for daily fishing and about 20 cans ice for weekly fishing are needed by per fishing trawler, he added.

Ebaidul Huq Chan, president of Barisal Chamber of Commerce and Industries, director of FBCCI and one of the leader of Mohipur-Kuakala ice factory syndicate said due to load shedding and low voltages of electricity supply, production of ice became almost stopped.

Yusuf Sikder, leader of the fishing businessmen association of Barisal, said to preserve and export Hilsha fishes, now we are collecting ice from Khulna by truck which costs more than Tk. 400 per can of ice and in this situation profit would never be possible.

It may be mentioned that at present daily only 10-15 megawatts power are supplied against the demand of more than 80 megawatts in the southern region and besides daily 11-13 hours load shedding, problems of low voltages being continued day after day, cause serious damages and losses of industrials production, business and house hold activities.