In Salpa village of Muradnagar upazila of Cumilla, Sidal dried fish are being made for many days. This dried fish is being exported also to India to meet the country's demand. A few families of Salpa village still retain this profession of their forefathers.
Going to Salpa village of the upazila, it can be seen that Rabindra Chandra Sarkar and Bishnu Chandra Sarkar are doing the work of drying dried fish in the loft. They prepare Sidal from morning till evening.
Bishnu Chandra Sarkar said, two types of Sidal are made. One is Poa fish, the other is Punti fish. Poa fish is collected from Chattagram. Punti fish comes from the Meghna and Sylhet areas. After bringing the fish, its stomachs have to be cut. About 100 women in our area do this work every day. The oil is extracted by cutting the belly of the fish. We bought the oil from the women at the rate of Tk 150 per kg. After that, the fish are dried in the loft. After a month of drying, the fish is put into the pot and that oil is used.
Businessman Montu Chandra Sarkar said that earlier, Sidal dried fish was sold at Tk 70 to Tk 80 per kg, and now it is being sold at Tk 400 to Tk 500 per kg.
He also said that once during the monsoon season, a lot of punti fish were available in this area. After meeting the needs of the local people, the extra fish would rot. These rotten fishes were dried in the sun in a special process to make Sidal. Currently, all fish must be bought. Although there is a demand for Sidal in the market, we cannot produce more due to a lack of capital. Our Sidal goes to different places in the country including Dhaka, Chittagong, Narayanganj, Comilla, Sylhet, and Feni. Besides we have some wholesalers in Agartala and Sonamura in India. They came and took Sidal.
