The fish market at Paltan Bazar. File picture

Sept. 23: A section of traders in the wholesale fish market at Paltan Bazar is planning to hit the streets, demanding a probe by an investigating agency to unearth the syndicate allegedly being run by the Paltanbazar Wholesale Fish Traders’ Association.

However, the association today rubbished reports of any such syndicate in the market.

Three traders — Jitu Barman, Rajesh Das and Jaideep Das — today questioned the probe that is currently being conducted by three senior officials of the fisheries department.

It will soon stage a demonstration, seeking chief minister Tarun Gogoi’s intervention into the matter, as the association was illegally collecting money from the traders, resulting in a hike in fish prices.

“The fish traders’ association is a registered organisation under the state co-operative department but how can the fisheries department conduct a probe into the anomalies in the functioning of the association? We have serious doubts about the investigation and we want that the probe should be conducted by the police and an investigation agency,” Utpal Das, the legal adviser to the protesting traders, said.

Das said the mandate of the association was to do business and it was not authorised to collect money from the traders.

However, they were collecting Rs 5 for each fish box coming from outside.

“They are collecting money from the traders and those refusing to pay the money are harassed. Now they are planning to increase the amount from Rs 5 to Rs 15 per box of fish, which is illegal,” Das said.

The president of the association, Dhruba Deka, however, rubbished the allegation.

He said the collection of Rs 5 for each packet had started in 2003 when Jitu Barman was the president of the association.

“We are spending the money to pay electricity bills, cleaning, providing security and other welfare activities for traders. We have told the inquiry committee that there is no syndicate as such and if they want any changes in the functioning of our market, we are ready to accept it,” Deka said.

A three-member inquiry committee, comprising the secretary of the fishery department, Anupam Roy, under-secretary J.C. Goswami and the project director of the state fisheries development corporation, Putul Lahon, began the probe on September 19.

They questioned fish traders and wholesalers during a hearing at Meen Bhawan of Gopinath Nagar.

The protesting traders, however, questioned the inquiry committee.

The Paltan Bazar wholesale fish market is the biggest fish market in the Northeast and over 150 tonnes of fish come in from Andhra Pradesh, Kanpur, Delhi and Mumbai and sold to markets across the region.

The fisheries department instituted the inquiry after the issue was raised in the state Assembly in July by AGP MLA Keshab Mahanta, demanding a proper inquiry. Speaker Pranab Gogoi asked fisheries department minister Basanta Das to look into the matter.