West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has called for the state to work shoulder to shoulder with the central government to make its fisheries sector fully self-reliant, Indian Express Bangla reports. At a review meeting of the state fisheries department in Kolkata on Monday, chaired jointly with Union Minister for Fisheries Rajiv Ranjan Singh, the hour-long discussion covered raising fish production, expanding aquaculture, building modern infrastructure and strengthening market links, and the Centre approved and handed over about Rs 9 crore in assistance for the sector.

The chief minister said new plans take in everything from the long coastline, the Sundarbans and brackish-water aquaculture to cold-water fish farming in the hills of Darjeeling and Kalimpong, with easy credit for fishers through Kisan Credit Cards and wider reach for the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana.

Criticising the previous Trinamool Congress government, he alleged that narrow politics had stopped central schemes being properly implemented in the state; in the new government's four months, he said, 2.8 lakh applications have been lodged on the fisheries department portal and 1.2 lakh fishers registered.

Bengal's coast and river-laced geography give its fish-based businesses scope to reach beyond the country's borders, he said, and the Centre has already approved six Amrit Sarovar water-conservation and fish-farming projects for the relatively dry districts of Bankura and Purulia.

Stressing Centre-state coordination, Suvendu Adhikari said Bengal had fallen behind because of "50 years of the politics of Centre-state conflict", and pledged that the state would work jointly with the Centre to advance its fisheries towards the prime minister's 2047 'Viksit Bharat' goal. An expanding West Bengal fish sector is also the competitive backdrop to Bangladesh's fish trade across the border.

Source: Indian Express Bangla