Keonjha: Fish and crab from Chilika have a good market in Keonjhar. Some women traders are making quick bucks from this fish trade.
Locals are happy to get Chilika fish at reasonable price. Shrimps, prawns, hilsa, crabs, small fries, patua and kaingi varieties of fishes from Chilika are available in this market.
A woman trader from Balugaon comes in train with basketful of fishes and sells them at Dhobadihi Chhak while another woman assists her.
She sells fish two days a week – Wednesday and Sunday. She is known as Amma. Sometimes she has to stay back in Keonjhar. The lady has taken a house on rent.
The customers who know her come to the selling point early. Amma fixes prices of fishes on the basis of their varieties. Shrimps have high demand in the market, she said. Amma sells hilsa for Rs 400 to 500 per kg. The fish market in Keonjhar is dominated by male traders, but Amma who hails from a distant place like Balugaon and does quick business and has amazed many here.
Sometimes, she has to deal with rivalry of local traders.
Some of her customers said that Chilika fish has special taste and that’s why they have high demand here. “Those who have tasted fish of Amma, know about its quality,” said Anil Sonkar, a local resident. Marine fishes from Bhadrak and Paradip areas are also sold here, said Nabin Nayak, a local trader.
