Happy Akter: Padua Bazar in Cumilla is a market with a hundred years of tradition. Located at the junction of the Dhaka-Chattogram highway and the Cumilla-Noakhali regional highway, its vegetable and fish section stretches about one and a quarter kilometres, with the fish market covering about one kilometre of it. The fish market sits on Sundays and Thursdays.

Fish traders sit in three rows. Fresh fish leap on the sellers' trays, and the biggest crowds gather around the large fish. The air rings with the calls of buyers and sellers. Enthusiastic buyers come from Shaktala, Jangalia, Kachua Choumuhani, Rajapara, Dishaband, Noagaon, Mostafapur, Beltali, Kotbari, Suagazi, Mia Bazar, Chouara, Kalikapur, Lalmai, Bagmara, Bijoypur, Bijra, Mudaffarganj, Pipulia and nearby villages of Cumilla. Many park beside the road to buy fish. Weddings, birthdays and other big events, community centres and the district's upmarket restaurants buy fish wholesale from Padua Bazar.

Traders say about 250 shops set up here every day, and about 100 tonnes of fish are sold daily at Padua Bazar on the Biswa Road, worth more than Tk 2.5 crore. With the market sitting two days a week, eight to ten market days are held a month.

Rui, catla, tilapia, pangas, mrigel, grass carp, silver carp, bighead and common carp sell the most, making up 50 per cent of the fish sold. Of the rest, 20 per cent is hilsa, 10 per cent local species and 20 per cent sea fish. Rui, catla, mrigel and carp come from the floodplain water bodies of Daudkandi, Meghna and Titas upazilas of Cumilla. Hilsa comes from Chandpur, Chattogram and Dhaka. Most sea fish come from Chattogram, with some from Cox's Bazar.

The sea fish include chapila, loitta, surma, coral, tuna, rupchanda, bata, baila and shrimp, and sea crabs are sold as well. Local fish come from various upazilas of Cumilla, Chandpur and Brahmanbaria, among them shing, magur, koi, taki, shol, tengra, pabda, puti, kachki, boal, air, bain and gajar.

Most of the sellers are from Daudkandi in Cumilla and Shahrasti in Chandpur. Traders from Kasba in Brahmanbaria, seasonal traders from Karwan Bazar in Dhaka, the areas around Padua Bazar and most upazilas of greater Cumilla also come to sell here. Its position at the junction of the two highways makes it easy for buyers and sellers to gather.

Traders say the market sits two days a week and all the fish sells quickly. There is no hassle with commission agents (aratdars), and whatever business is done, there is no risk of loss. Buyers are happy too: the market is easy to reach and every kind of fish is at hand.

Suman of Daudkandi sells rui, catla and other carp. "I collect fish from the Daudkandi floodplains and sell Tk 2 lakh worth each market day," he said. Kabir, a seller from Raipur in Daudkandi, said he sells on average Tk 1.5 lakh worth of fish a day.

Taslim Mia, a trader from Shahrasti in Chandpur, said he has been buying hilsa in Chandpur and selling it at this market for 20 years, with average sales of Tk 55,000–60,000 a day. Suman from Barura said he sells local shing and shrimp, averaging Tk 40,000.

Arman, a trader from Karwan Bazar in Dhaka, said that besides selling fish in Dhaka he comes to Cumilla two days a week. "Selling fish here is profitable; sales are much higher," he said.

Buyer Ali Akbar said he often comes from Mia Bazar in Chauddagram to buy fish. "Although my home is 20 kilometres away, it doesn't take long by the highway. I get all the fresh fish I like," he said. Another buyer, Faruk Ahmed, said: "Our home is in the Padua Bazar area. My father and uncles bought fish at this market, and we do too. It's lovely to see such a fair of fish close to home."

Market committee president Rotarian Abdul Malek Bhuiyan told BSS that the fish market used to stretch about one and a half kilometres, from the footbridge to the BADC building. It has been narrowed somewhat because four-lane work is under way on the regional highway. He said it is the biggest fish market in Cumilla, and because there is no aratdar hassle traders sell with ease. Besides Cumilla traders, sellers from Chandpur, Brahmanbaria and Dhaka also sell fish here.

Source: Amader Shomoy. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.