No claimants for Fisheries Dept’s Rs 36-lakh subsidy

Archit Watts

Tribune News Service

Muktsar, July 15

The Fisheries Department is facing a unique problem as it has got the subsidy amount from the Centre but the beneficiaries are not coming forward to claim it.

Under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, the Centre had announced 90 per cent subsidy to the farmers for adopting pisciculture in the four water-logging affected villages for digging ponds, putting seeds, feed and installing nets.

Though the department has provided the subsidy to the farmers, yet no one has come forward to claim the subsidy which is Rs 25,000 for a pond on 2.5 acres.

Sources in the department said they had received Rs 36.44 lakh for this purpose on October 23. However, not even a single farmer had yet applied to claim the subsidy.

Karamjit Singh, Assistant Director, Fisheries, said, “We have asked the farmers a number of times to buy nets and claim the subsidy. However, not even a single farmer has come forward for the same. We received the first application yesterday.”

On the other hand, sources claimed that the farmers did not need nets because they sell it on lump sum basis to the contractors mostly belonging to Ludhiana who bring their own nets.

“The farmers say they should be given subsidy against the submission of bills of buying nets but our officials have to physically check whether the net has been purchased. We need a photograph of the beneficiary clicked with the net and this is the sole reason behind this inordinate delay,” an official added.

The four villages selected in this scheme are Ghagga, Tappakhera, Rattakhera and Fatehpur Manian, having 100 acres each under pisciculture.

Courtesy: The Tribune