Mirza Abdur Rob Bulbul, Staff Reporter: Rivers, Canals and Bills are formed in Chalanbil. About 4,000 families in the historical Chalanbil region of Bangladesh are directly involved in the dried fish business. The upazilas of Chalanbilanchal are Tarash, Ullapara, Shahjadpur, Faridpur, Bhangura, Chatmahar, Gurdaspur, Singra and Atrai. Chalanbilan is well-known to people all over the country as the fish and grain storehouse of Bangladesh. From the beginning to the end of the monsoon season, a variety of native fish species are available in this basin. At various points in the Bill, drying villages have been set up by dry traders for drying fish. Dried fish traders are busy drying fish in drying racks, marketing and processing dried fish at the end of the monsoon season. Various types of native species of Chalanbil are supplied to various bazaars and fish markets across the country. Many of the fishermen involved in the fishing profession in the Bilan area, poor families have joined together with fishermen from other areas and have chosen dry fishing as a separate profession. Shuntki palli has been developed commercially in different parts of the bill since about 30 years ago. Punti, Tengra, Shaul, Khailsha, Pabda, Koi, Shing, Magur, Phalai, Taki, Mola and Boal etc. are notable among the different types of fish in the bill for making dried fish. When searching for information on the ground, we talked to dry goods traders Md. Habibur Rahman, Md. Abdus Sobhan, Md. Idris Ali and laborers: Aleya Begum. Because this year, like other years, sufficient amount of fish is not available. Therefore, most of the dry docks are empty due to lack of fish. Last year the lowest price of dried fish was 9,000/-(nine thousand) rupees, but this year the price of fish is also higher because Pratiman dried fish is selling at the minimum price of 12,000/-(twelve thousand) rupees. inform. 12-13 kg of dried fish is produced by buying 1 raw fish from the fish farm and drying it. The struggling women workers engaged in the work of cutting fish in Shutki village said that as most of the people of Bilan area were brought up in poverty, while surviving in the struggle of life, they are involved in the profession of fishing for 6 months a year along with men and live in peace with their families. Remaining 6 months involved in other professions and spent half-time-starvation days. They also told this reporter that they send their sons and daughters to school and college with their income. It is a little difficult to run the family and educate the boys and girls with the income from fishing. Due to less fish in the bill during the current dry season, their income has decreased to a great extent compared to other years. The fish traders of Shutki village said that they did not get any kind of government help even though they went to the office of the fisheries officers of their respective upazilas. Fishermen associated with Shuntki Palli expressed their hope of getting loans on easy terms instead of government aid. When asked about this matter, Md. Mashgul Azad, Fisheries Officer of Tarash Upazila, he said with great sincerity that last year only 350 metric tons of Shutki were produced in Tarash Shuntki Palli.

Apart from this, 150 metric tons of dry fruits have been produced so far in the current season, he said that dry fruits of this region are exported to foreign countries after meeting the needs of the country. He also informed this reporter about the establishment of a freezer for storing dried fish along with the plan to construct a submersible pump and a house for processing dry fish under the community-based fish project for the benefit of the traders of the dry fish village.