Haryana to bring 20,000 hectares under pisciculture

Chandigarh, Dec 13 (UNI) Haryana plans to bring 20,000 hectares of water area under fish culture and produce 90,000 tonnes of fish by the end of the 11th Five Year Plan.

Stating this here today, a spokesman for the Fisheries Department said an area of 200 hectares would be renovated under the National Fisheries Development Board for which the Board had released Rs 24.50 lakh.

He said four training centres would be established to provide training to 200 beneficiaries for intensive fish culture in their renovated ponds. The Board had already released Rs 9.18 lakh for this activity.

He said three fish markets had been established and two new fish markets at Bahadurgarh and Gurgaon would be established for which the Union Government had released a sum of Rs 84.64 lakh as hundred per cent grant.

In these markets, fish farmers would be able to sell fish at remunerative prices.

He said the government had implemented a scheme to insure the fisherman and fish farmers of the state under which 1000 scheduled caste families would be benefited during the current financial year.

Under the Centrally-sponsored Scheduled Caste Component Plan, the fishermen, fish farmers and persons related to fisheries trade would be insured and annual premium of the insurance would be fully borne by the State and Central Government.

He said in the unfortunate event of death of the insured person, Rs 55,000 would be paid to the dependent of the insured person. In case of disability, an amount of Rs 25,000 would be paid to the insured person.

He said the diversification of traditional fish culture to freshwater prawn culture, magur fish culture, singhara fish culture and ornamental fish production had been taken to increase the income of the farmers.

Emphasis was also laid on diversification of suitable technologies for utilisation of underground saline soil and water, sewage and water logged area into economical viable fish and prawn culture units, he added.

UNI