Though the exotic varities can be found at Lalpur, Bahu Bazaar, Booti Road and Kutchery Road, Ranchi fails to satisfy a full-blooded Bengali as these markets do not have anything fresh to offer and are flooded with week-old stale fish from Andhra Pradesh. For some reason, the rehoo caught from local ponds are nowhere to be seen in these markets.

The conspicuopus absence of local fish from Jharkhand markets is even more dicioncerting as the creatures of the deep are an integral part of Jharkhand?s culture. Tribals, who make the majority in this state, believe that fish and crabs brought soil from the bottom of the water mass and played a role in the formation of ?Mother Earth?. They worship fish and crabs on the occasion of Sarhool and consume them as part of their rituals. Many tribal sects even have their surname after fishes ? Minz is the Oraon word for fish and Dungdung is the Kharia for the same.

Ranchi is not the only market surviving on fish from Andhra Pradesh. Patna, Calcutta, Lucknow, Delhi and smaller communities in Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh too have been flooded by the Andhra Pradesh stock. Fresh local rehoo is, however, availabe side by side in Patna?s Raja Bazaar, Boring Road, Chiraiya Tar markets. Similarly, one can find fresh rehoo even in small markets of Darbhanga, Madhubari, Hajipur and Chapra in north Bihar. It?s a different matter that they sell for of Rs 80 to Rs 100 per kg compared to the Rs 30 to Rs 35 that the Andhra Pradesh stock commands. However, Ranchi ? often referred to as ?the city of eight ponds? ? truly diappoints the sea food freaks.

The Bada Talab, known better as the Ranchi Lake, is located in the heart of the city and other ponds include Chadri Talab, Karamtoli Talab, Button Talab, Joda Talab, Khajuria Talab and two ponds in Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC) area. Besides, the city has the sprawling Kanke and Doranda dams. Few cities can match Ranchi in terms of the number of water bodies in the vicinity, but that does not do much for the for the local population making a living from on the fisheries sector as the reservoirs do not produce sufficient fishe.

The lone pond at the Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park, Patna, supplies fresh rehoo in the nearby Raza Bazaar. Similarly, the ponds in Darbhanga and Madhubani produce sufficient maachh and makhan to cater to the local markets.

Admittedly, the ponds in northern and central Bihar do not produce as much fish on commercial scale liker Andhra Pradesh, but fresh rehoo is not a rare commodity there. The failure of ponds of Jharkhand to do the same is difficult to understand. The state?s animal husbandry secretary, A.K. Sarkar, said fish cultivation in Jharkhand had grown three-fold in as many years and of late, his department had started cultivating rehoo in Doranda Lake. A visit the markets here does not do much to substantiate Sarkar?s claims.

Sarkar also said that the government had hardly anything to do with the growth of the fish market in Andhra Pradesh for big businessmen and investors are involved in fish and prawn farming in that state dominating the country?s consumer pie. ?We are taking measures to supply seeds to the villagers and increase the yield of fish in Jharkhand,? Sarkar assured. As a fish freak, i only hope and oray that the ?measures? work out.