Soon, Hilsa to be sold at Sufal Bangla stores

Kolkata: The state Agricultural Marketing department is working on building a network to start selling Hilsa fish from Sufal Bangla outlets across the state. The department has already signed an agreement with two Farmer Producers' Organisation (FPO) in East Midnapore and East Burdwan so that the initiative can be started.

"The main aim of making Hilsa available at the Sufal Bangla outlets is to ensure that Bengalis can relish their favourite fish at a reasonable price. The price of all products at Sufal Bangla outlets are reasonable and less than the market price," said a senior official of the department.

State Agricultural Marketing minister Tapan Dasgupta said before the lockdown started, there were 130 Sufal Bangla outlets in the state and presently it has gone up to nearly 290. "By July, the total number of outlets will touch the 300-mark. The total number of movable outlets selling Sufal Bangla products is 169," said Dasgupta.

The daily sale from Sufal Bangla outlets is presently over Rs 17 lakh which was around Rs 8 lakh before the lockdown. Apart from a variety of fresh vegetables and fruits, spices, eggs, pulses etc are available in the Sufal Bangla stalls.

The minister on Friday handed over Biopac — a special ventilator machine — one each to two families who have children suffering from Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). The two families from Belgharia and Tollygunge respectively had sought help from the Contractor Association of the department to procure the machines for their children. A child with SMA develops weak muscles that shrink and he/she has trouble controlling head movement, sitting without help and even walking.

In some cases, he can have trouble swallowing and breathing as the disease gets worse. The biopac machine provides relief from breathing problem. SMA is a rare disease and as per knowledge of the Contractor Association, there are 72 families in the state where children are suffering from this disorder.