Hutbay, Oct. 12: As part of the special initiative taken by Shri B S Jaglan, IAS Secretary Fisheries, A & N Administration to implement various welfare schemes of Fisheries Department like PMMSY, Kisan Credit Card and UT schemes in the far flung areas, a team comprising of Assistant Director of Fisheries, South Andaman, and Assistant Engineer (Ref.) and Fishery Officer visited Hutbay from Oct.8 to 10, 2023. During the visit, a special camp was organized in the Vegetable Market Complex of R K Pur village on Oct.9 in which about 100 people comprising of marine fishermen, fish farmer, women SHG, fish vendor and unemployed youth participated.
Shri Tapan Kumar Biswas, Asst. Director of Fisheries, South Andaman explained the benefit of various schemes to improve the living standard of fisherfolk. During the special drive, participants were urged to avail benefits of Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana like purchase of Two Wheeler, Three Wheeler, Ice Plant, Cold Storage, Insulated Vehicle & Refrigerated Vehicle etc.
The ADF, South Andaman informed about the development of various infrastructures like Ice plant, Cold Storage, Value Addition Unit personally taken up by individual beneficiaries of Port Blair and North & Middle Andaman District through PMMSY. Regarding Kisan Credit Card, the participants were sensitized on the benefits of availing loan as a Startup of small business and also as a working capital to meet daily expenses. The representative from State Bank of India explained about KCC loan benefits and methods of applying through Department of Fisheries.
On Oct.10, the officials visited proposed construction site of Fish Landing Centre at V K Pur. The fishermen group and Pradhan highlighted the difficulties being faced by the fishermen to manoeuvre their fishing boats through the proposed FLC. Later on, a fishermen group along with J P Tiwari, Asst. Engineer and ADF, South Andaman sailed through the creeks upto the mouth to assess genuine problem faced by the fishermen during low tide due to submerged rocks. The entire programme was conducted under the guidance of Shri Vikram Singh, Director of Fisheries.