Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to lay stone for four fishing harbours, 25 aqua hubs today

These four fishing harbours will come up at JuvvalaDinne in Nellore, Uppada in East Godavari district, Nizampatnam in Guntur district and Machilipatnam in Krishna district. 
Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy (Photo| EPS)
Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy (Photo| EPS)

VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will lay the foundation stone for four fishing harbours in the State on the occasion of the World Fisheries Day on Saturday. These four fishing harbours will come up at JuvvalaDinne in Nellore, Uppada in East Godavari district, Nizampatnam in Guntur district and Machilipatnam in Krishna district. 

The Chief Minister will also lay the foundation stone for 25 aqua hubs in the State.The State government had decided to set up eight fishing harbours in the State at an estimated cost of Rs 3,000 crore.

Works for the remaining four fishing harbours will also be taken at the earliest, government sources said. It may be recalled that Jagan, who interacted with many fishermen during his padayatra taken out before the 2019 elections, had promised to set up more fishing harbours in the State. 

The total cost of the four fishing harbours to be constructed in the first phase is Rs 1,510 crore and in the second phase, fishing harbours will come up at Budagatlapalem in Srikakulam district, Pudimadaka in Visakhapatnam district, Biyyapu Tippa in West Godavari district and Kothapatnam in Prakasam district.  
In the first phase, tenders have been called for the four fishing harbours at Juvvaladinne, Nizampatnam,  Machilipatnam and Uppada costing around Rs 1,510 crore and the government aims at completing them in the next two years. The tenders will be finalised in the second week of December.

Although Andhra Pradesh has the second longest coastline of about 974km in the country, the previous government allegedly neglected the maritime activity and established only small fishing harbours. 

Through the new fishing harbours, it is expected that an additional 2.37 lakh tonnes of fish and prawns worth nearly Rs 500 crore will be added as GVA (Gross Value Addition) to  the State and 85,000 direct and indirect employment will be generated. 

The State government will be developing these green energy harbours with modern facilities such as cold storage units, fish processing units, chill centres, boat handling, and repair facilities. It is also planned to provide one or two coastal cargo berths in the fishing harbours, wherever feasible, to facilitate export operations.

Along with the eight fishing harbours, the State government has decided to develop one aqua hub each in every assembly constituency, depending on feasibility. I

In the first phase, 25 aqua hubs will be developed. The total estimated cost of the developing aqua hubs is Rs 225 crore. Main objective of the aqua hubs is to provide better quality fish, prawns and other seafood and improve the domestic consumption, thereby the demand.

Fish and other seafoods are rich in nutrients and recommended for consumption to improve immunity. Further, to ensure optimum remunerative price for the aqua farmers, the aqua hubs, which will be managed by Aqua Farmers Societies, will be interlinked with the proposed Janata Bazaars.

Amul milk project 

Earlier, speaking to mediapersons, Minister for Fisheries and Animal Husbandry S Appalaraju said the Chief Minister will also launch AP Government-Amul Milk project on November 26. On the same day, milch animals will be distributed to the beneficiaries under the YSR Aasara and YSR Cheyutha.  

He said out of 400 lakh liters of milk produced per day in the state, the dairies are able to procure only 1.6 lakh liters and with the tie-up over 200 lakh liters of milk will be procured. In order to help the women dairy farmers, 7,125 bulk milk chilling units will be established near the existing Rythu Bharosa Kendras in three phases at a cost of Rs 1,362 crore. 

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