A consignment of over 3,000 tonnes of Hilsa from Bangladesh will start reaching Kolkata on Wednesday, a day after the ban on the catching, sale and transportation of the Padma Hilsa ends in the neighbouring country, a state government official said.
This consignment will be part of over 4,000 tonnes of Hilsa that the Sheikh Hasina government had allowed to be exported to Bengal as “Puja gift”.
While a small part of the entire consignment had reached Bengal by October 4, the day the ban came into effect in Bangladesh. The ban ended on October 25.
“Around 1,100 tonnes of the total consignment of over 4,000 tonnes had reached us before the ban had come into effect in Bangladesh,” said Syed Anwar Maqsood, secretary of the West Bengal Fish Importers’ Association.
“We are told that the export will resume on Wednesday.”
A notification by Bangladesh’s ministry of commerce on Tuesday said the export of the remaining quantity of Hilsa to Bengal would be allowed till November 5.
In September, the Bangladesh government had permitted 115 fish exporters to send 40 tonnes of Hilsa each to Bengal. This was the largest volume of export allowed by Dhaka since 2012, the year the seasonal ban on the catching, sale and transportation of the Padma Hilsa was introduced.