It hit fish eaters across east and north India – especially Bengalis – where it hurts most: in the gut. It didn’t divert enough water to unclog Calcutta Port; it choked water supply to Bangladesh; worst, east Asia’s most prized fish, the ilish, perishes because of the barrage. The ilish fish – tenualosa ilisha – is a shad that lives in the sea and comes upriver to sweet water to breed. They say around 2.5 million people of Bangladesh depend on the ilish or hilsa fish for their livelihood; around 3,00,000 directly harvest the fish. In August, fish minister Uma Bharti said the government was planning to put up fish ladders, water pools ascending the dam, to help hilsa climb the Farakka barrage.

Source: Times of India September 25, 2016 20:26 UTC