Minister for Animal Husbandry, Fisheries and Marketing Mopidevi Venkataramana Rao on Wednesday said development of the aqua sector was a priority for the government.
Addressing a press conference at the Secretariat, Mr. Venkataramana Rao said like agriculture, the Jagan Mohan Reddy government had identified aqua sector as an equally important area. Pointing to the long coast the State was gifted with, he said the government was keen on making the best of this advantage.
The State contributed 40 % of the foreign exchange earned by the Marine Products Export Development Authority. To further develop this sector, plans were afoot to construct fishing jetties. As part of encouraging the activity, aqua farmers were given subsidised electricity, they were paying ₹ 1.50 per unit and the move had cost the exchequer nearly ₹ 550 crore.
Fishing harbours
Following a survey on the proposed location of major and minor fishing harbours, it was decided to construct major and minor jetties in 22 places. In the first phase, fishing harbours would be set up at Vadarevu, Uppada, Machilipatnam and Juvvaladinne and in the second phase, they would be set up at Budagalapalem, Edduvanipalem, Pudimadaka and Kothapatnam.
Each of these jetties would cost ₹ 350 crore and the burden would be shared by the State and Central governments with the latter chipping in with a matching grant, the Minister said, adding that construction work would begin this year. He said the Centre had responded favourably for modernisation of the Visakha fishing harbour at a cost of ₹ 100 crore.
He said the government also wanted to encourage breeding of Tilapia fish through cage culture.
The Minister said that the release of eight fishermen from Srikakulam district by the Bangladesh government had become possible due to the intervention of Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Referring to the scrapping of the Legislative Council, the Minister said ruling party members would tender their resignations immediately after the Centre gave its nod.
