Foodies, especially those who love sea food, would soon see vans carrying processed and ready-to-cook fish varieties at their doorstep if the plans of the Fisheries Department fructify.
The department is in the advanced stages of finalising modalities for deploying vans to carry ready-to-cook fish varieties to consumers. The design for the vans that would have de-boning and de-scaling equipment is being worked out in consultation with experts, while the department is in touch with corporates for customising the design for serving readily-cooked cuisine through these vans.
It is planning to deploy close to 150 custom-designed vans, each costing ₹15 lakh, for the project and efforts are under way to conclude the consultations soon. According to officials, unemployed youth would be selected to operate the vehicles and they would be provided with other material on subsidised prices.
At present, the discussions are focussed on the issues like government’s share in the project supported by the National Fisheries Development Board, modalities that should be adopted for selecting eligible youth to operate the vehicles and scope for tie-ups with banks. The development assumes significance with the government making a provision of ₹850 crore for fishermen cooperative societies in its budget apart from over 50 crore fish seedlings released into 70 major reservoirs and 10,000 tanks across the State. “The concept of food trucks to take a variety of cuisines to consumers in itself is new and we want to take advantage of being an early bird in this direction,” Secretary in Chief Minister’s Office Sandeep Kumar Sultania said. He added that the scope for establishing a centralised kitchen for processing fish is also being considered.
The project would initially be launched in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation area and would be scaled up to district level based on the response.
