Tripura to set up Integrated Aqua Park to boost fish production, ramp up employment opportunities

Quite disappointing

Tripura to set up Integrated Aqua Park to boost fish production, ramp up employment opportunities

In an effort to boost its fish production figures and ramp up employment opportunities in the sector, the Tripura government on Friday said it is ready to set up the state’s first Integrated Aqua Park at Unakoti district after the central government approved funds for the first phase of the project under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY).

Speaking to the media, Tripura Fisheries and Animal Resource Development minister Sudhangshu Das said that the state government’s fisheries department had earlier submitted a proposal to the central government for sanction of Rs 99.99 crore for setting up an integrated Aqua Park at Satero Miyan Haur of the Kailashahar sub-division under the Unakoti district.

“In response, the Government of India has sanctioned Rs 42.39 crore in the first phase of implementing the project under the PMMSY, in which the central government would shoulder 90 percent of the project cost and the state would share 10 percent cost amounting to Rs 4.23 crore,” Das said.

“The project would cover 115.83 acre of land in the Satero Miyan Haur Area, including government and private land which would be taken in lease or some acquisition process,” the minister added.

The minister said 95 percent of Tripura’s population is estimated to be fish consumers, requiring 1.15 lakh metric tonne of fish annually.

While Tripura produces 85 thousand metric tonne of fish locally, the state still needs to import 30 thousand metric tonne fish from adjoining Bangladesh and other Indian states.

The minister also said that a second project was submitted to the centre for funding for the distribution of 100 fish kiosks, 100 mobile fish kiosks named Matsya Vahini across the state and 100 Matsya e-rickshaws to provide employment to unemployed youths through the sector.

The project was granted Rs 3.4 crore funding in the first phase under the PMMSY as well, and is expected to foster atmanirbharta or self-reliance, the minister said.

The state government earlier formulated a ‘Lease Policy for Government-owned water bodies of Tripura’ in 2021 for sustainable use of a total 1,502 government-owned water bodies.

Tripura earlier set a 10-year target for food self-sufficiency in 2002-03. The target was not achieved at the time of evaluation in 2012-13 with barely 25 thousand MT of meat, 12.5 crore eggs and 1.05 MT of milk produced annually. Later, the erstwhile Left Front government set a new target for self-sufficiency in food production by 2020. But despite repeated attempts, it failed to cut down on its import dependency so far.

In 2020, the then Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb said his government is trying to double the income of farmers and poultry farmers by intensive cultivation and introduction of high yielding varieties. He stressed on developing production in primary sector activities to boost revenue and overcome the crises arising out of the pandemic induced lockdown.

Debraj Deb – 2024-03-15 22:29

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