GHMC dragging feet on new fish markets

Hyderabad: The city populace has quite a taste for seafood, but we have not had any new fish market coming up in the last 80-odd years. The two fish markets in the city — one at Begum Bazar and the other at Monda Market in Secunderabad — were built in the 1930s by City Improvement Board (CIB) in the erstwhile Nizam rule.

According to Telangana fisheries department records, on an average about 80 tonnes of fish arrive in the city on weekdays, and a massive 150 tonnes on weekends, from Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal. Going by the demand, the city needs at least four wholesale markets and about 100 retail fish markets in all the 150 divisions under GHMC limits.

Though consumption of fish in Hyderabad is high compared to other cities in both Telugu speaking states, it continues to depend on the two old and small fish markets. Even these are in dilapidated condition. Due to lack of space inside the markets, fish is sold on the roadsides, near nalas and vendors operation from carts and bicycles in very unhygienic conditions. The lack of hygiene has resulted in fish sellers, especially women, suffering from severe health problems as they have to be constantly in touch with ice and squat for long hours for business. B. Hema Latha, a fish seller in Musheerabad, said, “I sell frozen fish from 6 am every day, sitting on a wooden plank all day. My hands get numb, and I have also developed knee pain.”

Fishermen’s Welfare Association general secretary L. Balakrishna said middlemen get fish from the wholesale markets in AP, Orissa etc., and sell the stocks to small traders at significantly higher rates. He has been asking the government to disallow middlemen to operate, and build at least five wholesale markets in GHMC limits.