Ganga hilsa may return to Bengali platter in UP

Varanasi: Hilsa fish or 'Ilish' that has been a rarity in UP for decades now due to its low availability and exorbitant prices may once again delight Bengali households, filling them with the aroma of 'Shorshe Ilish', 'Bhapa Ilish', 'Macher Jhaal' and 'Ilish Macher Dim Bhaja' if the plans of Union water resources minister Uma Bharti materialize.
Responding to a supplementary during Question Hour in the Lok Sabha on August 4, Bharti said plans are afoot to install fish ladders in the Ganga near the Farakka Barrage in West Bengal.Fish ladders are a series of pools built like steps to enable fish to ascend a dam and enable them to migrate upstream over or through a barrier. The ladders will enable the fish to cross the dam and breed further up the river.
Bharti is on record as saying once that happens, the fish, considered a delicacy in East India, will be available in the Ganga in regions as far as even the Chambal in MP and UP, as was the case in the past. Indeed, till the time the Farakka barrage was built in 1975, hilsa which only breeds in fresh water travelled hundreds of kilometres inland to breed. The building of the barrage barred their migration.
The hilsa is now like a fish out of water in the Ganga. "Gone are the days when we relished the choicest preparations of hilsa, which is revered as 'machher rani' (queen of fishes), amid monsoon spells. It is a thing of the past. Today, we can't afford this luxury and have to spend Rs 1,200-1,500 for a kg of fish," laments Gauri Das (75), a resident of Bengali Tola area in Varanasi.
The last time Das bought hilsa was three years ago on a special occasion. Recalling the old days, when it was available in abundance in the markets, she said, "Dishes like Shorshe Ilish (hilsa cooked in mustard paste) and Bhapa Ilish (steamed hilsa with chilly mustard paste) were common in Bengali households. Today, we are yearning for hilsa." Those were the days before the Farakka barrage was built and the hilsa travelled long distances upstream.
Das was elated at the thought that hilsa could be fished locally in the Ganga waters in the coming days. " Sotti! Eta hobe?" (Really! Would it happen?)," she wondered with her wide open eyes. "Hilsa is cooked in a number of ways," she said, adding that it can be fried, cooked in spicy tomato or ginger-based gravy (jhol), or mustard-based with green chillies (shorshe batar jhal). It can also be cooked with posto, doi (curd), seasonal vegetables, and steamed inside of plantain or butternut squash leaves.