Shillong, July 17: The Meghalaya government will decide on Wednesday whether or not to ban the import of fish from other states.

Additional chief secretary, P.W. Ingty, said a decision to ban imported fish to the state would be taken at a meeting to be convened by Health Minister, A.L. Hek.

Hek informed that he would hold a meeting with food safety officials, health officials and a delegation of fish suppliers to discuss the issue in the Secretariat on Wednesday at 3pm.

Hek admitted that there was a thought to ban for 15 days the import of fish from other states.

“However we have not banned the import of fish as of today. A decision will be taken collectively on Wednesday,” the Health Minister said.

There is fear that fish brought from other states like Andhra Pradesh has been laced with preservatives (formalin), which is dangerous to human health.

Ingty said that the government was waiting for a test report on the second batch of samples sent to a laboratory in Guwahati for test report.

“The samples were collected from fishes in the market which were brought from outside. We are still waiting for the test report on the second batch of samples,” he added.

The first batch of samples collected from fishes brought from outside was sent earlier for tests at the laboratory in Assam. But the first test report showed negative results.