Rs. 29.3 cr. to develop fisheries

Rs. 101.23 crore earmarked for the sector in 2016-17 fiscal compared to Rs. 75 lakh in 2013-14

Minister for Agriculture Pocharam Srinivas Reddy.

Both houses of the Telangana Legislature on Friday saw discussions on development of the fisheries sector and the Government’s initiatives to give it a boost.

While Agriculture Minister Pocharam Srinivas Reddy read out a note in the Council, his colleague T. Srinivas Yadav (Animal Husbandry, Fisheries and Dairy Development) showcased sectoral development programmes in the Assembly.

Blue revolution

Mr. Reddy pointed out that the Government was focussed on improving the lot of the estimated 3.26 lakh families, mostly belonging to the Mudiraj and Gangaputra communities, whose livelihood depended on fishing and sale of fish. Apart from substantial increase in budgetary allocation, the Government accessed funds under the Central Government’s ‘Blue Revolution’.

He said that Government of India had allocated Rs. 14.65 crore, with the State share of Rs. 8.72 crore and beneficiary contribution to the tune of Rs. 5.92 crore, taking the total project cost to Rs. 29.3 crore.

These funds would be used to set up fish seed farms, ponds, hatcheries, feed mills, landing centres for reservoirs, fresh water fish brood bank and cage culture, with the ultimate objective of enhancing fish production and achieve self-sufficiency in fish seed production. From a meagre allocation of Rs. 75 lakh in the financial year 2013-14, the volume of funds now earmarked for the sector was a whopping Rs. 101.23 crore for the year 2016-17, he said.

Purchase of seed

The funds would be used for purchase of seed, to set up more retail fish markets, mobile vending units to fishermen, building community halls and funding group insurance schemes, he said. In the current fiscal, Mr. Reddy said that 27.22 crores fish seed was supplied free to fishermen covering 3,901 reservoirs and tanks at a cost of Rs. 25 crore, a move that will yield 81.650 tons of fish, valued in the wholesale market at Rs. 408.25 crore. For the fiscal 2017-18, an action plan was being chalked out to raise 40.39 crores of fish seed, costing Rs. 36.35 crore, he said.

Lighter moments

After Mr. Srinivas Reddy read out Government’s statement on the sector, Congress Member P. Sudhakar Reddy had the House in splits when he said if the department had a way to count the exact number of fishlings raised. “You talk in lakhs and crores of seedlings, but you need to tell us how the department keeps count of them. What is the mechanism?,” he asked, as members erupted in good-natured laughter.