Jammu, Feb 18 (IANS) On the occassion of Mahashivratri this year, superior variety of fish, including trout and carp, would be made availaible in the migrant Kashmiri Pandit camps in Jammu and in other small Pandit localities in Kashmir.

This is for the first time that the fisheries department of Jammu and Kashmir has taken the initiative on the festival.

Fisheries director Shoukat Ali said mobile outlets to sell fish would be set up in the Kashmiri Pandit migrant camps on the edge of Jammu city and in the Kashmir Valley areas where Pandits live in small numbers.

"We will sell trout and carp in the Kashmir Valley while in Jammu it will be just carp along with local varieties as there is problem of transporting trout to Jammu, " Ali said.

He said arrangements would be made next year for selling trout in Jammu too.

A total of 16 quintals of fish - four to five quintals of trout and 10-12 quintals of carp - would be sold by the department. The price for trout is fixed at Rs.200 per kg and for carp at Rs.80 a kg.

Mahashivratri, "the night of Lord Shiva", is one of the major religious festivals of Kashmiri Pandits, who pray and feast on different varieties of non-vegetarian dishes on this day.