The Punjab Government has decided to modernise all the 14 fish farms across the State with an outlay ofRs25 crore.Giving his nod while presiding over a meeting to prepare the blueprint for promoting pisciculture in the State, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Tuesday said that all the fish farms or hatcheries of the State must be equipped with the state-of-the art infrastructure so as increase fish production.
He said that there was a huge gap between the demand and supply of the fish seeds in the state which could be filled only by augmenting the fish seed production in the Government farms.Badal said that within six months, all the farms or hatcheries must be provided with hi-end infrastructure so that a big boost could be given to the fish production in the State.
In another significant decision, Badal also gave his concurrence for installing mini feed mills in these fish-cum-demonstration farms so as to provide quality fish feed to farmers.likewise, he also gave approval for opening ‘Fish Training Skill Centres’ in these farms, which would be instrumental in imparting quality training to the farmers and the unemployed youth to promote pisciculture in the state.
“There is a tremendous scope in fishery in the State and it can help us transforming the destiny of our beleaguered peasantry, which is facing a major agrarian crisis,” said Badal adding that the untapped huge potential for fish production should be fully exploited by educating the fish farmers on scientific lines.
He also batted for providing the best training to the officers of the state fishery department from GADVASU and other reputed institutions both within the country and abroad.Badal asked fisheries department to explore the possibility of opening processing centres in the fish farms so as to supplement the income of the farmers.The Chief Minister also gave nod for rationalising the existing staff in the fishery department, besides allowing recruitment on the vacant posts.