Bihar govt liftts ban on sale of live fish in Patna

Bihar government has lifted ban on sale of live fish, three days after it banned the sale, transportation and storage of all kinds of fish dead or alive in Patna for 15 days. Principal Secretary of state Health Department, Sanjay Sinha, told the media in Patna yesterday that the government has decided to lift ban on sale of live fish, mostly local fish.

According to sources the ban lifted following a directive from CM Nitish Kumar after reports of growing protests by fishermen and vendors selling fish. Fish traders had also threatened to launch agitation against the ban. Sinha said that ban will continue on sale, storage and



transportation of fish from Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal in Patna as laboratory tests  confirmed presence of high content of formalin and heavy metals like lead and cadmium in the consignments.

Formalin, a cancer-inducing chemical, is used to preserve the fish. After presence of formalin in samples of fish from Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal was found, the government agencies have decided to randomly collect fish samples from different districts and get those laboratory-tested. If the tests are found to be positive, the ban would again be imposed across the state, he said.