Rourkela: Fish lovers can finally heave a sigh of relief. An official said fish samples collected from the city did not have formalin in them.

Health officer of Rourkela Municipal Corporation Basant Mishra said: "After extensive testing it was found that the samples collected from Rourkela were free from formalin."

Mohammed Nadim, secretary of the fish merchants' association here, said: "Our livelihood totally depends on the sale of fishes. The news of formalin in fishes almost stopped our business here. The sellers remained idle. They had to depend on local production or fishes procured from Rengali and nearby areas. Our main concern was small retailers. Thankfully nothing has come out of Rourkela samples. We were really worried about the outcome of the test."

Fish sellers, retailers, whole sellers jointly held a meeting on Monday at the daily market, the main whole selling point of the city.

"We request the residents not to have any doubt or fear that the fishes contain formalin. We are not resorting to such practices," said Akhaya Samal a fish retailer.

Local resident Anil Das said: "I will wait for some time before purchasing these fishes. At this moment I am buying costly local fishes and smaller varieties and crabs."

Local fishes such as rohi, bhakur, mirkali and others, from Rengali and nearby areas, touched all time high of Rs 220 a kg here. Prices of prawns and ilishi have also shot up, Das said.