Save the Hilsa fingerlings: Message of Ilish Utsav

Kolkata: Don't buy Hilsa fingerlings to save the species, a call made by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be the theme of the Hilsa festival organised by Baro Pally Jadavpur.

It may be mentioned that the Chief Minister had said over and again not to buy Hilsa fingerlings and directed the state Fisheries department to conduct raids in markets to ensure that they are not sold.

Baro Pally Jadavpur is using the festival as a platform to create awareness among the locals. The club looks after 1,200 fishermen of the Sunderbans who go to the deep sea to catch Hilsa. The club has given them medical insurance and also looks after their children. The honey collectors of the Sunderbans who are often attacked by tigers are given assistance by this club.

"We organise the festival to create social awareness about the fishermen who take life risks to catch Hilsa. Also, selling and buying of Hilsa fingerlings are banned and we have launched an intense campaign on the issue," said Rahul Ghosh, secretary of Ilish Utsav Committee.

The committee will felicitate Utpal Ghosh, secretary of Binaynagar Bengali Senior Secondary School, New Delhi, where the medium of instruction is Bengali. The higher secondary school starts from nursery level.

Sudip Roy, a sergeant of the Kolkata Police, whose left leg had to be amputated after being hit by a lorry while on duty had lost all hope. Artificial limbs were installed and he recently joined his duties. He will be felicitated by the committee, said Pradip Chowdhury, chairman of the committee.