KOCHI: With Covid-19 grounding all passenger flights, fish seed suppliers in West Bengal are grouping together to send fish seed to farmers in Kerala on chartered cargo planes, to meet the huge demand by the fish-loving Malayalis. On last Tuesday, the first cargo plane reached Kochi with nearly 9.5 tonnes of cargo and two more flights are expected this week itself.
The first flight came on May 12th carrying 14 shipments meant for 11 buyers in Kerala, confirmed Paul Kocheril, general manager, Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL). “Various cargo agents approached us in Kolkata for shipping fish seeds to Kochi, and hence we operated a non-scheduled flight using a Boeing 737 700 aircraft on Tuesday,” said Christy Joseph, Cargo Manager-Kerala, Spice Jet Ltd. There were 2,500 boxes of ‘oxygen packed’ fish seed, which is estimated to be 3 million in number.
When contacted, Uday Mandal, proprietor of Calcutta Cargo, one of the three agents who booked the Kochi flight last week, said that they are planning to send cargo planes to Kerala on 20th and 23rd of May again.
