NEW DELHI: Delhi and the National Capital Region consume 20-25 tonnes of fish every month. Most are brought here from Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Odisha. And given the capital’s distance from these states, preservation is a necessity since supplies take over a week to reach the city markets. One of the substances that is illegally used for the purpose is formalin , which affects human health adversely.Some states, including Goa and Assam, recently detected formalin in fish supplies there and have banned entry of fish from other states past their borders. Wholesalers in Delhi not only appear ignorant of the problem, but also continue to sell their wares without tests and verification.Given the implications, even those who know about the risks involved with formalin use are chary of speaking about it. Profits are uppermost in their minds, and curtailing supplies from Andhra Pradesh — the main suspect for the origin of contaminated fish — and Gujarat or voicing concern about the harmful chemical would only affect their sales while escalating their costs. At Ghazipur wholesale market, traders did agree, however, that the scare has already affected the price of fish forming the bulk of the sales in the past few months.Mohammad Rizwan, a member of the Fish Sellers’ Association of Ghazipur, asserted that the small portion of supplies that comes to Delhi from Andhra Pradesh was tested by the sellers before being sold to retailers. However, most traders claimed ignorance about the checks they needed to carry out to identify fish preserved by formalin. “Even if formalin is detected, we cannot throw the fish away,” Rizwan admitted. “We sell them to the retailers but ask them to make sure they wash it vigorously before selling it to consumers.”Bhaskar Mandal, who runs several fish stalls in Chittaranjan Park, checks, as most household consumers do, the gills for indication of freshness. Fresh fish have red gills, while those that are older exhibit maroon gills. “Using formalin helps keep the gills appearing red even if the flesh has started decaying,” said Mandal. “So, we also usually check if the flesh is soft. If so, this indicates staleness.” However, Mandal conceded that while buying in bulk, it is impossible to check the quality of each pieces of fish going on sale.Despite the dangers posed by formalin, which is deemed to be carcinogenic, Delhi Government hasn’t yet taken any action, unlike Goa, Kerala, Nagaland and Assam which have banned the import of fish into their states. However, Delhi’s fish dealers are unanimous that banning fish from other states will bring the market to a halt. “The local supplies from Rajasthan and UP make up 10-15% of the total demand. We need the supplies from the other states to keep the wholesale market running,” declared Bilal Khan, a Ghazipur wholesaler.The demand for species consumed daily, such as rohu, katla and bhetki, remains constant through the year. Zakir Hassan, a fish retailer at Gole Market in central Delhi, pointed out, “The neighbouring states only produce smaller species that are eaten by a handful of people. Regular supplies for most customers and for hotels and restaurants come from coastal states.”

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