A Parliamentary panel on Wednesday pulled up the government for slow progress made in implementation of an infrastructure development fund for fisheries and aquaculture, saying only projects worth Rs 2,171.32 crore have been approved even after three years since the inception of the fund. “It clearly reflects that this scheme has not progressed in the desired manner,” the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture said in its 27th report on the Demands for Grants (2021-2022) of the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, tabled in Parliament. In the 2018-19 fiscal, the government had created the Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund (FIDF) with a corpus of Rs 7,522.48 crore for improving fishery infrastructure in the country. Under the FIDF, concessional finance is provided for development of fisheries infrastructure through interest subvention of up to 3 per cent per annum. Stating that funding under the FIDF is expected to fill large infrastructural gaps in the fisheries sector, the committee recommended the ministry to pursue this matter with the state governments and encourage them to avail loan under the FIDF for improvement of fishery infrastructure. The committee also asked the ministry to hold a wider publicity campaign about the scheme so that intended beneficiaries (both individuals and state governments) may reap the full benefits, the report added.
According to the report, the Central Approval and Monitoring Committee (CAMC) constituted under the FIDF has approved projects to the tune of Rs 3,644.78 crore with project cost restricted to Rs 2,171.32 crore for interest subvention as per the FIDF guidelines. The Committee observed that no expenditure could be made under FIDF in the 2019-20 fiscal as no state availed loan from NABARD or other entities, the report added. On seaweed cultivation, the panel said there is huge employment potential and asked the government to devise concrete action plans to fully exploit the scope of seaweed cultivation in the country. India has 844 species of seaweeds out of which about 60 species are commercially important ones. However, at present only 2 to 3 seaweed species are being cultivated on a commercial scale in India, mainly concentrated in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat and to a small extent in Odisha and Maharashtra. The newly launched fisheries flagship scheme Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) provides for focused development and promotion of seaweed cultivation and value chain with requisite financial allocations. Under PMMSY, seaweed production target of 11.20 lakh tonnes over a period of five years from 2020-21 to 2024-25 has been set. PTI LUX ABM ABM.