Date:14/08/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/08/14/stories/2007081454730600.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Minister announces sops for fishermen

Correspondent

A training centre, on the lines of Chennai-based one will be set up for them

Kakinada: A State-level Post Harvest Fisheries Training Centre, on the lines of the institute in Chennai, to train the fishermen on modern fish preservation techniques would be set up at Yetimoga area here soon, at a cost of Rs.50 lakhs, said Minister for Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development and Fisheries Mandali Buddha Prasad.

Addressing a function after laying foundation stone fishermen community hall in Dummulapet area, constructed at a cost of Rs. 45 lakhs here on Monday, he said the training centre would be of great help to fishermen who were depended on traditional methods for preservation of fish catch and were not able to derive optimum benefits. The Minister said that a State-level seminar would be organised by the month-end in Hyderabad, where experts from fisheries and fishermen societies would be invited on the strategies to be adopted for improving the living standards of fishermen.

In East Godavari district, he said, a special scheme with an outlay of Rs.23.30 crores would be implemented under which ice boxes and other equipment including fish dry platforms would be provided to the fishermen and their families.

The Minister said that fingerlings breeding centres would be set up at Amalapuram and Kadiyam at a cost of Rs. 35 lakhs each.