Plan to set up fish seed farm at Pong reservoir shelved

Rajiv Mahajan

Nurpur, November 30

A fish seed-cum-breeding farm proposed by the state Fisheries Department on the bank of the Pong Dam reservoir four years ago has been shelved. Thanks to the apathy of the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) which was supposed to lease out its 9 hectares of land at Batahari near Fatehpur in lower Kangra district.

The ambitious project was to cost Rs 12 crore out of which Rs 5 crore was earmarked by the National Agriculture Development Scheme. To establish this fish seed farm, the state Fisheries Department had identified land and applied for its lease from the BBMB authorities in 2010.

The department had to sign a memorandum of understanding with the BBMB if the land was leased out, but due to harsh conditions laid down by the BBMB, the department could not get the leased land. According to information, the BBMB in reply to the demand for this land had imposed conditions of depositing Rs 82 lakh in advance and Rs 2.5 lakh per year as lease money.

Intriguingly, this land of the BBMB is presently being cultivated by locals without its permission. The Fisheries Department had repeatedly taken up the matter with the BBMB authorities by turning down the demand of advance money and annual lease money altogether, but the latter remained adamant.

Gurbachan Singh, Director, Fisheries Department, said: “The department has finally shelved its proposal to establish a fish seed farm on the bank of Pong dam reservoir.”

He said the department had decided to modernise and expand its existing fish seed farm at Gagret in Una district by spending Rs 4.5 crore on it.

“The present demand of fish seed of the Pong reservoir will be met from this seed farm in future after its expansion and modernisation,” he said.

As per official information, the Fisheries Department meets the present fish-seed demand of fishermen in this reservoir by inviting tenders for supplying fish seeds from outside the state.

As many as 2,200 fishermen have been engaged in fishing avocation in the pong reservoir.

The Director, Fisheries Department, said the department had been procuring fish seed from other states at a competitive price through tender system by involving stakeholders in the procuring process and payment of only live fish seed is being released to the supplier.

He said the procuring of fish seed through tendering was a time-gap arrangement and finally the department would meet Pong reservoir’s demand through its own fish seed farm in Una district.