Qatar partially lifts ban on frozen seafood from India
Kolkata, Feb 17: Qatar partially lifted a ban imposed last year on the import of frozen seafood from India, the Marine Products Exports Development Authority (MPEDA) said on Friday.
Restrictions will continue on the export of chilled seafood which constitutes nearly one-third of total seafood exports to the West Asian country worth Rs 143 crore in 2021-22.
Frozen seafood is stored at minus 20 degrees whereas the storing temperature of chilled seafood is 3-4 c.
The ban was imposed in November last year, just ahead of the FIFA World Cup there, following the alleged detection of Vibrio cholerea a bacteria that causes cholera infection - from a few consignments from India, MPEDA officials said.
The Qatari authorities had informed India that the ban was temporary owing to a lack of sufficient testing laboratories in their country in the run-up to the football event.
"This week is proving to be very good for the seafood exporters in India, considering a similar lift in the suspension by China. We hope that the restrictions by Qatar on the chilled seafood will also be cleared soon after a reassessment of the situation," MPEDA Chairman DV Swami said.
Swami is in Kolkata for the India International Seafood Show held in association with the Seafood Exporters Association of India. Friday was the last day of the event.
The Department of Commerce along with the embassy of India in Qatar held a series of discussions with Qatar's Ministry of Public Health, leading to the issuance of a notification on Thursday lifting the ban partially.
In the current fiscal as per provisional figures, seafood exports to the West Asian country were worth nearly Rs 90 crore dominated by shrimps.
China has also lifted the suspension of shipments from 99 Indian seafood processing and exporting units, following which seafood exports are expected to cross USD 8 billion in the current fiscal.
In 2021-22, total seafood exports from India were valued at USD 7.76 billion.
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Mandya district court receives bomb threat, turns out to be hoax
Mandya (Karnataka) (PTI): A bomb threat email sent to the judge of the Mandya district court here triggered panic on Thursday, prompting police to launch a search operation.
According to police, the district court received a bomb threat through an email earlier in the day, following which authorities immediately evacuated the premises.
Court proceedings were halted, and lawyers, judges, staff and litigants were asked to immediately vacate the premises.
Police teams, along with the bomb disposal squad and fire brigade personnel, rushed to the spot and launched a thorough inspection of the court premises.
Senior police officials, including Additional Superintendent of Police Gangadhar Swamy, were present at the scene and supervised the search operation.
Police later said the threat appeared to be a hoax.
Lawyers said a similar email threat was received on February 16 as well, and expressed concern over the recurrence of such incidents.
Police said an investigation has been launched to nab those behind such acts.
