At the upazila administration's Bangla New Year event in Zianagar, Pirojpur, panta bhat was served with coral and pangas fish instead of hilsa. Many people have praised the unusual move.

The event began at 8am on Tuesday (14 April) in front of the upazila administration building with the national anthem and Boishakhi songs.

A colourful procession then went from the upazila compound to the Indurkani Government Degree College campus. Leaders and activists of various political parties, government officials and employees, and teachers and students of various educational institutions took part spontaneously.

The traditional panta bhat was served as part of the event, but with coral and pangas instead of hilsa. The event was arranged with large fish caught by casting nets in the upazila parishad pond, and some fish were also bought from the market, it was learned.

Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Hasan Md Hafizur Rahman said: "We celebrated Pohela Boishakh in keeping with Bengali tradition and culture. We are happy to have completed the event well with everyone's cooperation."

Asked why coral and pangas were served instead of hilsa, he said there is no supply of hilsa because fishing in rivers and the sea is temporarily banned under government instructions, so the event was arranged with locally available fish.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.