The Budget for 2023-24 presented by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday, February 17, proposed to set up a Seafood Park at Kambadakone in Bynduru Taluk of Udupi district under Public Private Partnership (PPP) to encourage value addition and export of fish.
In addition, it proposed to fit GPS communication system developed by ISRO to mechanised fishing boats and providing subsidy to convert kerosene-based fishing boats as petrol or diesel operated boats. The Budget also mentioned about encouraging religious adventure and environmental friendly tourism in the coastal belt.
The Chief Minister said to improve the livelihood of traditional fishermen, artificial reefs will be established at different places in coastal districts under Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana. A grant of ₹20 crore will be provided to encourage stocking of high-quality fish seeds (ranching), he said.
GPS communication system
Mr. Bommai said that GPS communication system developed by ISRO will be fitted to all the mechanised fishing boats with a grant of ₹17 crore. This will help in ensuring the safety of fishermen and their boats, by being able to trace the boats when under trouble in deep sea.
Referring to the housing facility to houseless fishermen, he said that additional 10,000 houses will be sanctioned to such fishermen during 2023-24 besides 5,000 houses which were sanctioned in 2022-23.
He said that to prevent the financial difficulty caused due to fluctuation in the price of kerosene and to reduce environmental pollution due to its use, the government indents to provide a subsidy of ₹50,000 each to the fishermen for converting their boats to petrol / diesel based outboard motor engine within next two years. He said that ₹40 crores will be provided for this purpose during 2023-24. Kerosene subsidy will be continued for the next two years till the completion of this process.
Diesel being supplied tax-free to the boats of fishermen will be increased from the present limit of 1.5 lakh kilo litres to two lakh kilo litres. Fishermen will get assistance of ₹250 crore from the State government, he said.
Arecanut
The Chief Minister said that an assistance of ₹10 crore will be provided to Agriculture and Horticulture Research Centre at Theerthahalli to develop new technology for the management of diseases affecting arecanut crops and also to enhance productivity.
He said under ‘Sahyadri Siri’, development works will be taken up in Coastal, Malnad and Semi Malnad areas for conservation of water in summers by taking up development works including wells, check dams and canals.
He said that the Union government has agreed to relax the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) guidelines which was the long standing demand of the people of the coastal region. In this background, policies will be framed to encourage religious adventure and environmental friendly tourism.
The works approved for ₹378 crore will be implemented under second stage of Paschimavahini project formulated for utilising the water for agricultural and drinking water before joining the sea, he said.
