Kolkata: Switching to fish is not what Rina Banerjee is doing out of choice. Though she loves chicken, she'd rather not try it. This, despite the steep rise in the prices of fish and other non-vegetarian food after bird flu was reported in West Bengal's poultry about a fortnight back.
"Since chicken is not available, we have switched to fish. But fish prices have gone up incredibly," Rina says.
While mutton prices have registered a 25 per cent jump, from Rs 180 to Rs 220 a kg, in the last fortnight, Bengal's favourite fish too have grown dearer.
Some of the varieties have become costlier by as much as 100 per cent. The prices of hilsa, for instance, has gone up from Rs 250 to Rs 500 a kg, that of rohu from Rs 80 to Rs 100 a kg, prawn from Rs 350 to Rs 550 a kg and bhetki from Rs 130 to Rs 220 a kg.
There's a saying in Bangla: Karor sarbonash to karor poush mash… A curse for some is a boon for others.
Fish and mutton sellers in Kolkata chuckle silently as poultry owners curse their luck. At the receiving end are the consumers who are left with very little bargaining power.
The rising prices of fish and mutton has hit the middle class so hard that many now have no choice but to turn vegetarian. "Bengalis must give up eating fish," says a customer at a local fish market.
"Children are in trouble without chicken in their plates," says another hassled Bengali customer.
And with the West Bengal Government achieving little so far in stemming the spread of the avian flu in the state, seeking recourse to the divine seems to be the only option left before poultry owners and chicken consumers.
(With Sukarno Sen)
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