The Fisheries Department has decided to supply 35 crore fish seedlings free of cost to fishermen cooperative societies in Telangana, as most of the reservoirs, lakes, tanks, and ponds are brimming with water following heavy rains since the last two weeks.
Minister for Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Talasani Srinivas Yadav on Thursday directed the Fisheries Department in the districts to start the supply of fish seedlings from October 2 so that 4,553 fishermen cooperative societies could release them into reservoirs and other water bodies. In a video conference held from the Secretariat, he asked the officials to take up seedlings supply without giving any scope for irregularities.
The Minister stated that some fish seedling suppliers had formed into a ring and tried to defeat the objective of the scheme by causing additional financial burden to the government by quoting Rs. 1.22 per seedling. However, the tenders were cancelled and were held a second time transparently through an online process. The cost had come down to 90 paise per seedling.
Stating that the process of tenders and finalisation of seedling suppliers was already completed in all districts except Warangal and Nizamabad, Mr. Yadav directed the Assistant Directors of the districts to complete the process by Saturday. He ordered them to take the help of the Joint Collectors so that the supply commenced on October 2 in the two districts too.
Mr. Yadav stated that the government would be spending Rs. 37 crore for supplying 35 crore fish seedlings to benefit 20 lakh fishermen in the State. The government had doubled the supply of the seedlings this year as many water bodies were full.
Director (Fisheries) D. Venkateshwarlu, Joint Director Shashank Rathod, and others attended the meeting.
Meanwhile, the Minister said he would visit the district to participate in the supply personally. Accordingly, he would visit Nalgonda on October 2, Adilabad on October 3, Mahabubnagar on October 4, Medak on October 5, Karimnagar on October 6, Khammam on October 7, Ranga Reddy on October 8, Nizamabad on October 13, and Warangal on October 14.
