Catching of mother-hilsa (matured fish with eggs) is going on unabated from the river Padma by people of six villages under Khoksa upazila of Kushtia district by defying the ban.
Those matured hilsa are being transported to the nearby towns through women and students of the char villages, it is learnt.
Sources said an influential quarter was using six villages of Khioksa upazila situated at the confluence of three districts as safe route to transport of hilsa fish. Recently, an Imam died while fishing in the river.
According to the sources, this time of October is the breeding period of the Hilsa fish. The government has imposed ban on catching, preserving, transporting and marketing of Hilsa fish from the rivers of the country including the river Padma. The ban will be continue till 30th October. However, the catching of mother-hilsa is being continued unabated from the river Padma throughout 35-kilometre areas of Kushtia, Rajbari and Pabna districts. Several hundred mounds of mother-hilsa are being caught in the areas daily, sources informed.
In char villages, one kilogramme of matured hilsa is being sold at Taka 500 while hilsa fries are being sold at Tk 300 per kilogramme.
At a stage of catching fish for consecutive seven-day on the river, Maulana Abu Yousuf Khan of Khaschar villages and Imam of Natun Para Juma Mosque was learnt to fell in water from the boat during sleeping. His body was recovered three-day after his falling in the river from Kalukhali upazila on Friday.
Sources informed that char villages including Gopgram, Ambaria, Kuthipara, Ambaria, Moklur Char and Khaschar of Khoksa upazila are being used as safe route to transport Hilsha fish to the town people. As against a tiny amount of wages, women and students of char villages were being forced to transport those fish to the town.
Some students and labourers complained against some influential wholesale fish traders. They said, during transporting the fish, they were being harassed by some policemen. Whenever, the patrol police caught them, they snatched the fish from their possession.
On Monday morning, at the Kolerghat of Khaschar, three-kilometre away from Khoksa, selling spree of Hilsa fish was noticed. The same scenario is noticed at all ghats of the river Chitra. Some people were also seen to run away from the scene with the purchased fish. Inside the Kashbon, sugarcane and paddy fields, fish are being sold openly.
Asir Uddin Pramanik, an elderly person of Khoksa village informed, he did not witness such scene of selling and bargaining of Hilsa fish earlier. He said, during last 10-years no such scene of selling of huge amount of the fish was witnessed.
Office Assistant of Upazila Fisheries Office Abu Bakker Siddique was seen to carry about five kilogramme of Jatka in a bag with his motor-bike. He informed the fish trespassers managed to escape by leaving the bag of fish. But, local people complained, he forcibly took those fish from a fisherman named Pachai.
A student of Pangsha College seeking anonymity, informed that due to threat from the influential quarters, they were being bound to carry Hilsa fish to the town customers, otherwise, it will be hard for them to live at the char village.
Hazrat Ali, a farmer of a char village alleged, there is a relation between the wholesale fish traders and the police that is why the police are not taking action of the fish traders who are selling fish defying ban. However, the fish traders who were not keeping a good relation with police were being harassed.
On Friday morning, police seized two mounds of hilsa fish from a fish trader in Joyanti Hajra Village.
Aminur Rahman Khan, chairman of Ambaria Union Parishad informed two of his members were engaged in catching hilsa fish from the river Padma. Often, police conducted operation and recovered hilsa fish but most of the recovered fish are taken away by the police themselves. He further said, some 19,000 people live in riverside villages of the union of them 3,000 people are directly involved in catching Hilsha from the river Padma.
In Charge of Bhabaniganj Police outpost Kamal Hossain categorically denied the allegation brought by public representative and termed that as false.
He said, police along with the officials of the fishery department were conducting operation against illegal hisha catchers and sellers.
Rashed Hasan, Upazila Fisheries Officer informed that he was trying to check the illegal Hilsa traders from the Padma. Already two persons have been arrested and one of the violators has been punished. So far 150 kilograms of Hilsa have been recovered through conducting the operation, he added.
