TS Govt to set up wholesale fisheries markets

Hyderabad, Apr 09: Telangana Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao has announced that the State government will set up wholesale fisheries markets in all the district headquarters to avoid the middlemen intervention in purchasing fish from the fishermen.

The Minister was responding to Andole MLA P Babu Mohan who said that the middlemen were raking in the moolah by purchasing fish from fishermen at Singur and other places in the district. Furthermore, the Minister also wanted to see some of the fish to be sold in local markets instead of exporting the entire fish to Hyderabad.

The Minister was addressing the representatives of Fishermen Societies in Sangareddy at an awareness programme organized by Fisheries Department at Collectorate on Sunday.

The Minister said Telangana government had allocated Rs 1,050 crore budget to Fisheries Department to spark a Blue Revolution in the State. Congress had made a mere Rs 30 crore budget allocations in a year during their 10 year’s rule neglecting the welfare of fishermen community.

Stating that the erstwhile Medak district alone had got the grant of Rs 70 crore, Rao said individuals, societies or district-level societies could set up fisheries related industries since they were offering up to 100 percent subsidy to them.