A Chilika fish retail outlet and (below) a regular fish shop at the BMC daily market near Badagada in Bhubaneswar. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Feb. 13: Two outlets opened at the Badagada BMC market here for selling fish from the Chilika lake have been incurring losses since their inception ten months ago.

The outlets, aimed at providing fresh fish from the famous Chilika lake at reasonable prices, were opened on April 1, 2011, jointly by the Chilika Fisheries Central Co-operative Society and National Federation of Fishermen's Cooperatives Ltd. While the former is a state government-sponsored cooperative, the latter is supported by the Union government.

The Odisha unit assistant director of the federation, Shiv Shankar Singh, said so far the cooperatives had incurred a loss of around Rs 1 lakh because of poor sales. “The location is such that we get very few customers even on days when people are supposed to eat fish,” he said.

Singh said even on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, when the demand of fish is generally high in the city, the total sales of the two outlets does not cross Rs 4,000. Sometimes the sales dip to nil on other days.

Chilika, the largest brackish lake in the country, produces nearly 12,000 metric tonne of fish every year. Different varieties of prawn and crabs from the lake are in huge demand. Fish such as khainga, bhekti, kundal, sahal and morda also remain in high demand. The rate of these fish vary from Rs 150 to Rs 400 depending on their quality. Officials said the two cooperatives also had facilities for storing fish, which was not available to other fish vendors in the city. Even the prices are reasonable, but the Badagada BMC does not attract many customers even on days when people normally eat non-vegetarian food, because it is located far away from the populated colonies. “The customers visit markets in Kalpana and Laxmisagar, which are closer,” said Prashant Das, adding that unlike the Badagada market, there were more fish vendors doing business in other areas. “We can compare the prices and buy the best possible stuff at a reasonable price,” he added.

Singh admitted that the location of the two outlets was a disadvantage. He said that the federation had proposed to open two more outlets at VSS Nagar and Sailashree Vihar, but the proposal was yet to be accepted. “Talks are on with the animal husbandry department. If they agree, we will open more outlets,” the officer said. He said the federation might hire a mobile van soon to sell Chilika fish.

When the outlets were opened, Chilika Fisheries Central Co-operative Society had provided 1,500 insulated fish boxes to the fishermen, who supply fish to the Bhubaneswar outlets. Officials also said that a survey undertaken by the Central Inland Fishery Research Institute, Barrackpore, had revealed that fish, crabs and prawn from Chilika were completely safe for consumption.

as it was toxic free.

However, despite all this the two vends in Bhubaneswar have failed to make a success of their venture. Nonetheless, president, Chilika Fisheries Central Co-operative Society and chief executive of Chilka Development Authority (CDA),Ajit Patnaik said that they were also planning to tie up with private retail outlets in the city to provide Chilika fish at a reasonable price.

“We will also set up more kiosks in the city so that people can get quality Chilika fish easily,” said Patnaik.