Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal Monday turned nostalgic while remembering the days of his youth and particularly when he, as a youth, would go fishing and wait for hours to and come home with just a ‘sengeli maas’. He said this while distributing appointment letters among 32 junior engineers of Fishery department in Guwahati today (Aug 13). Chief Minister Sonowal asked Fishery department officials to work towards making Assam self-sufficient in fish production and that the State should be converted into a top fish producing and exporting State.
Calling on the new appointees to spend a night with fishermen and fish producers for understanding their difficulties and challenges, Sonowal directed the Fishery Department to prepare an assessment report of the required quantity of fish in the State for gaining a clear picture about the potential of the market. The Act East Policy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has opened a window of opportunity for the state fish producers to gain access to South East Asian market and they must be prepared to compete with the best in the world, he stated.
Appreciating the Fishery Department for being able to increase the State’s fish production by 20,000 metric tonne in 2017-18 from the previous year, the chief minister said that Chief Minister’s Samagra Grammya Unnayan Yojna (CMSGUY), a scheme to transform the rural economy with a budget outlay of Rs 33,000 crore, has also kept fishery as a priority area. The infinite potential of Brahmaputra and Barak rivers must be harnessed to achieve fast paced development of state and vast presence of natural water- bodies must be properly utilised for growing the fishery sector, he said.
Chief Minister Sonowal further said the government would also award fishermen for showing excellence in fish production.
Assam Fisheries Minister Parimal Suklabaidya, on the other hand, congratulated the newly-appointed junior engineers and advised them to work hard. Adding a bit of humour, he also said that Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal not only loves people of the State, he also loves fish a lot.
