Mrigasira Karthi may see 900 tonne fish being sold

Hyderabad: Unperturbed by the non-placement of orders for fish by the Bathini brothers this year too for the usual ‘fish prasadam’ distribution, the state fisheries department said it is optimistic about good sales for the Mrigasira Karthi event, due to the post-pandemic normalcy.

Generally, on weekdays, some 160-180 tonnes of fish is sold through different markets including the city’s biggest venues at Musheerabad (70-80 tonnes) and Begum Bazaar (40 tonnes) as also from other markets and outlets (70 tonnes). The consumption shoots up on Sundays when sales double.

“Now that the pandemic curbs on markets are over, we are hopeful that there will be a four- to five-fold increase in fish sales. Telangana famously celebrates Mrigasira Karthi when, in the past, at least 50 lakh households consumed at least 1kg of fish,” explained a fisheries official.

The per-head consumption of fish still remains below the normal limits.
Telangana in the 2021-22 fiscal produced 3.9 lakh tonnes of fish, of which 40 per cent was consumed locally while the remaining went to other states during the peak season (January to June).

During the non-peak season (July to December), there will be a reverse trend. Fish is not harvested so as not to disturb the calm of the water bodies when fingerlings are released for rearing there.

“Despite an increase in consumption during the past three years, the per-head consumption remains below the average prescribed by nutritionists. ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) proposed a per-head consumption of 12kg per annum. Telangana still lags behind with 8-9kg consumption per person per annum,” the official said.

This was the third consecutive year the Bathini brothers famously attending to patients at the Nampally Exhibition ground sat back and did not place orders. Some 1 lakh fishes (murrel fingerlings) were being supplied for use as fish prasadam every year.