Rs. Is being sent abroad from India. 2 lakh / kg chips, Interpol activated

- Chips are made by separating plastron from a turtle's stomach

New delhi date. Wednesday, February 10, 2021

Gyanpuri-bansari chips, which are in high demand in the international market, are sold at Rs 5,000 per kg in some parts of India. However, with the crossing of the Indian border, the price goes up to Rs 2 lakh per kg. A team from Uttar Pradesh STF is investigating the makers of such chips. Interpol is now also active in the case, according to a team investigating people smuggling turtles. Such special chips are manufactured in Etawah in Uttar Pradesh and 24 Parganas in West Bengal. Based on a place called Gyanpur-Bansari, 3 special species of turtles are called Gyanpuri-Bansari which are mostly found in Etawah. The area is located in the National Chambal Sanctuary and yet large scale turtles are being smuggled from the area.

Explaining the smuggling, Rajiv Chauhan, an environmentalist and Ganga campaigner, said that turtles of Nilsonia gangtis and Chitra Indica species are found in Agra's Pinhat and Etawah's Gyanpuri and Bansari, which are connected to the Chambal River, and are used to make chips. The skin of a turtle's stomach is called plastron from which chips are made.

The plastron is cut and separated and then boiled and dried. It is then sent abroad via Bengal. Chips are made from plastron during the summer while only live turtles are smuggled in the winter as there is no hindrance in smuggling in the winter.

Chips are sold at Rs 2 lakh per kg

According to Rajiv Chauhan, according to details obtained by local smugglers, the chips makers sell turtle chips from Gyanpuri and Bansari at Rs 5,000 per kg. The chips are shipped from Etawah-Pinhat to 24 parishes and from there they are smuggled to Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.

According to the smugglers, the chips start selling at up to Rs 2 lakh per kg as soon as they reach these 3 countries. About 250 grams of chips are obtained from a tortoise weighing one kilogram. The manner in which the country cracks down on such activities has now curbed smuggling to some extent and that is why the price of chips in the international market has gone up to more than Rs 2 lakh.

The assumption behind eating chips

According to Rajiv Chauhan, when the motive behind the use of turtles in this manner was known from the smugglers, it was very shocking. In many countries, including Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia, it is eaten or drunk to increase sex power. Plastron chips are also eaten as chips papad and are also made into boiled soup. In West Bengal, its meat is sold for up to Rs 400 per kg.