Sikander Kumar today sought information from the Union minister on the Blue Revolution in Himachal Pradesh

Rajya Sabha MP Dr. Sikander Kumar today sought information on the current status of Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana to bring about Blue Revolution in Himachal Pradesh focused on increasing fisheries production and productivity. He also sought details of the total budgetary allocations made by the government for the PMMSY scheme in Himachal Pradesh. He also sought details of information regarding providing employment to unemployed people under this scheme.
Responding to Dr. Sikander’s queries, Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Rajiv Ranjan alias Lallan Singh informed that this Ministry of the Central Government is implementing a flagship scheme named Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) for a period of 5 years from financial year 2020-21 to 2024-25 with an investment of Rs. 20050 crore in fisheries sector which is a scheme to bring blue revolution through sustainable and responsible development of fisheries in India. He informed that the Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying has approved fisheries development proposals of Himachal Pradesh Government at a cost of Rs. 127.67 crore with central share of Rs. 61.52 crore during the last 4 years of implementation of PMMSY and released central funds of Rs. 38.14 crore to the State Government for implementation of approved projects. He informed that since the launch of PMMSY, the Himachal Pradesh Government has provided employment to a total of 12,171 unemployed youth of Himachal Pradesh in various fisheries and aquaculture activities.
Dr Sikander further asked what is the status of production of marine products in Himachal Pradesh during the last year and the current year and the finance provided to the fisheries and aquaculture farmers in Himachal Pradesh under Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund (FIDF) since the implementation of this scheme, how much this fund has helped in creation of infrastructure, marketing etc. in Himachal Pradesh and how many employment opportunities are likely to be created by utilizing this fund in the current year?
Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan said that Himachal Pradesh, being an inland state, is associated with inland fisheries and aquaculture rather than marine fisheries. He said that according to the report of the Himachal Pradesh government, inland fisheries production during 2023-24 is 17721 tonnes and the current financial year 2024-25 is 3300 tonnes till June.
The Union Minister further informed that to meet the infrastructure requirement of fisheries sector, the Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying has been operating a dedicated fund i.e. Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund (FIDF) since the financial year 2018-19 with a total corpus of Rs. 7522.48 crore. He informed that during 2021-22, the Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying has approved the proposal submitted by the Government of Himachal Pradesh for setting up a state-of-the-art fisheries training centre at Gagret with a total project cost of Rs. 5.17 crore, in which the project cost has been limited to Rs. 5 crore for interest subsidy. He informed that National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) is one of the nodal agencies lending under FIDF which has sanctioned an amount of Rs. 5 crore to the Government of Himachal Pradesh and disbursed an amount of Rs. 4.04 crore. He said that as per the information provided by the Government of Himachal Pradesh, a total of 10,000 fish farmers/fishermen are envisaged to benefit from the approved training centre through training, seminars and Kisan Sammelan etc.