Ningol Chakkouba: Fisheries Department all set to hold fish fair

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Oct 18: Amidst the lack of clarity on the date of Ningol Chakkouba this year, thanks to many contradicting calendars which show October 29 and 30 as the festival day, the Fisheries Department is all set to organise Fish Mela for the festival.
The fish mela (Fish fair cum fish crop competition) is usually held one day before Ningol Chakkouba, said Additional Director Fisheries Khamsing Ahum.
The Fisheries Department is planning to hold the mela on October 29, but is not final. The Department will follow instruction of the Government to organise the event, he said.
The event will be held at the Dhanamanjuri College of Arts campus. The campus also hosted last year's fish fair which sold about 86,617 kilograms of fishes, he said.
This year, the Department is aiming to sell around 90,000 kg of fishes, he added.
The fishes are collected/bought from farmers across the State. The prices of the fishes will be decided in the coming two or three days, Khamsing said.
In 2018, CEO FFDA (Fish Farmers' Development Agency) Imphal, L Dhanachandra of Khabam Bamdiar produced 12,875 kg of fishes and won the Rs 1 lakh award in the fish crop competition. District Fisheries Office Bishnupur's Tongbram Raghu of Keibul Salam produced 10,841 kg of fishes and won second prize of Rs 70,000. CEO, FFDA Bishnupur H Rabi of Keirenphabi produced 6,385 kg of fishes and won Rs 20,000, he said.
20 farmers were also given consolation prizes of Rs 10,000 each. FFDA Imphal's O Jibanlata and DFO Churachandpur's Hemchandra N won the Rs 15,000 Best Fish Production Officer (Valley) and Best Fish Production Officer (Hill) respectively, he said.