Bathinda, March 2
Saline water fish farming, a much-hyped Centre-sponsored scheme launched in six waterlogging affected districts of the state on an experiment basis, has apparently failed to elicit much response from the farmers.
Observing the huge chunk (more than 1.25 lakh hectares) of land in south-western Punjab affected by waterlogging and saline water, the Union government had come up with the project for Bathinda, Mansa, Ferozepur, Fardikot, Moga and Muktsar—the badly affected districts of the state.
Pushing it as a pilot project about two years back, the Union government had offered to bear 80 per cent of the total cost as subsidy and the farmers had to invest only 20 per cent. The subsidy was said to cover all aspects, including excavation, inputs, transportation charges and other miscellaneous expenses.
Besides, it was proposed that officials of the state department of fisheries would be the caretaker of the fish farm for about two years and once it became fully operational, they would hand it over to the farmer, who would then be the sole owner of the project and get all benefits, including production.
Terming it beneficial for the affected districts, the state government had directed the department of fisheries to execute the project by setting up one fish farm (measuring 2.5 acre) each in all the six districts along with transferring grants of Rs 2.20 lakh to the accounts of each district. Despite this, the project could not take off.
Confirming the fact, officials of the department of fisheries informed TNS that almost every district had advertised public notices more than twice to make people come forward to derive benefits from the project but hardly any of the six district offices could get a response.
In a state-level meeting held at Chandigarh, some of the officials offered to end the scheme. Sources disclosed that officials from Mansa stated that they had issued the notices four times, but hardly any interested farmer came forward.
Speaking over the phone from Chandigarh, Director, Department of Fisheries, Punjab, BK Sood said, “We are concerned about the scheme, so a special meeting was called. No doubt the officials have been facing problems in the implementation of the scheme but we will do our best to ensure the utilisation of grants before the end of the financial year.”
Saline water fish farming, a much-hyped Centre-sponsored scheme launched in six waterlogging affected districts of the state on an experiment basis, has apparently failed to elicit much response from the farmers.
Observing the huge chunk (more than 1.25 lakh hectares) of land in south-western Punjab affected by waterlogging and saline water, the Union government had come up with the project for Bathinda, Mansa, Ferozepur, Fardikot, Moga and Muktsar—the badly affected districts of the state.
Pushing it as a pilot project about two years back, the Union government had offered to bear 80 per cent of the total cost as subsidy and the farmers had to invest only 20 per cent. The subsidy was said to cover all aspects, including excavation, inputs, transportation charges and other miscellaneous expenses.
Besides, it was proposed that officials of the state department of fisheries would be the caretaker of the fish farm for about two years and once it became fully operational, they would hand it over to the farmer, who would then be the sole owner of the project and get all benefits, including production.
Terming it beneficial for the affected districts, the state government had directed the department of fisheries to execute the project by setting up one fish farm (measuring 2.5 acre) each in all the six districts along with transferring grants of Rs 2.20 lakh to the accounts of each district. Despite this, the project could not take off.
Confirming the fact, officials of the department of fisheries informed TNS that almost every district had advertised public notices more than twice to make people come forward to derive benefits from the project but hardly any of the six district offices could get a response.
In a state-level meeting held at Chandigarh, some of the officials offered to end the scheme. Sources disclosed that officials from Mansa stated that they had issued the notices four times, but hardly any interested farmer came forward.
Speaking over the phone from Chandigarh, Director, Department of Fisheries, Punjab, BK Sood said, “We are concerned about the scheme, so a special meeting was called. No doubt the officials have been facing problems in the implementation of the scheme but we will do our best to ensure the utilisation of grants before the end of the financial year.”
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