SHILLONG, June 18: The Khasi-Jaintia Fish Wholesalers and Retailers Association (KJFW&RA) has urged the state government to set up a permanent testing centre at Khlieh Iewduh to ensure that fish sold to people are free from formalin.
KJFW&RA president, Mitchel Wankhar told The Shillong Times on Sunday they want the government to set up the centre so imported fish can be tested.
“We will sell fish that are free from formalin or other chemicals. We will return all fish consignments if the tests confirm the presence of formalin,” Wankhar said, adding people will feel safe buying and consuming fish when they know that the same has been tested.
He stressed that the state government should send a fact-finding team to Andhra Pradesh from where fish is imported.
According to him, if government officials can be sent to travel abroad, the government should not have any problem sending a fact-finding team to Andhra Pradesh if it is really concerned about the health of people.
“We would not want to resume our business only to see it getting closed down again within a month. If the government provides the report, only then people will be convinced,” Wankhar said.
He said it is important to remove the doubts of people on the safety issue.
“The government is yet to reveal the details of the fish which tested positive for formalin. Not only from Andhra Pradesh, we are also importing fish from Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh) and Howrah (West Bengal). We know the consignment from Andhra Pradesh will reach the state within four days,” he said.
Asked why fish from Assam are not seen in the markets of Shillong, Wankhar said the fish sellers are not willing to import a huge consignment from the neighbouring state as people now hesitate to buy fish.
He said the per day total sale of fish earlier was around Rs 50 lakh.
‘But everything has now come to a standstill. The daily labourers and small-time fish sellers have been affected the most after the ban on the import of fish. The small-time fish sellers had bought fish on credit from the dealers but they have not been able to clear payments,” he added.
Butchers seek clarification on Lumpy Skin Disease
The Butchers’ Association of Meghalaya (BAM) has asked the state government to clarify the status of Lumpy Skin disease (LSD) as people still do not know if it is safe to consume beef.
“We were assured that the Animal Husbandry and Veterinary department would issue a statement on whether there are any fresh cases or reported deaths of cattle from LSD in the state,” BAM president Esron Marwein said.
He said the meat sellers are in a fix. He said many of them were forced to close down their shops as their business suffered. The food stall owners are also suffering as people have stopped eating beef and pork, he added.
Marwein said the situation has come to such a pass that the shops are finding it tough to sell even 10 kg of beef. “We don’t know what will happen to families of meat sellers if the situation does not improve,” he said.
He said the members of BAM met senior officials of the department and they said the LSD cases would plummet soon. The joint director of the department clarified it is safe to consume beef if it is properly cooked since LSD does not transmit to human, Marwein said.
He said they came across a statement in the media which said it is not safe to consume the meat and milk of LSD-affected cattle.
The BAM president said the problem now is that any information spreads very fast on social media. “We observed that people became more hesitant after this statement by the department was published in the media,” he said.
He also said that there was a clarification from the secretary of the department that the disease would die down with the onset of monsoon. “LSD is common in hot places. It has hit Meghalaya possibly due to change of weather,” Marwein added.
According to latest figures, the number of cattle deaths in LSD in the state has gone up from 45 to 61. This highly contagious viral disease was detected among 7,200 cattle and 4,588 of them recovered. There are over 2,500 active cases in the state while 20,000 cattle have been vaccinated.
A senior official advised farmers to allow the vaccination of their cattle to protect them against the disease. He added that the sick cattle were being given treatment.J