Fisheries Commissioner rebuts ‘propaganda’ on GO 217

‘Of the 27,363 tanks, GO is applicable to 582 tanks’

Commissioner, Department of Fisheries, K. Kanna Babu has said that there is no truth in the ‘misinformation campaign’ being carried out by certain sections against the GO Rt. No 217.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Mr. Kanna Babu explained in detail about the benefits the fishermen community would accrue through implementation of the said GO.

He said the Minister for Animal Husbandry and Fisheries S. Appalaraju and Rajya Sabha member Mopidevi Venkata Ramana had explicitly spoken about the contents of the GO 217 on many occasions and had clarified the doubts of the representatives of the fishermen associations.

He said of the 27,363 tanks in the State, 3,325 minor irrigation tanks and 118 reservoirs were in purview of the Fisheries Department besides 23,920 tanks in purview of the Panchayat Raj Department.

He said recognising the fact that the fishery wealth in the minor irrigation tanks was being captured by the middlemen, the fishermen cooperative societies were unable to reap their benefits, the GO was issued to ensure that the fruits of the government initiatives reached the rightful beneficiaries.

Mr. Kanna Babu said of the 27,363 tanks, the GO was applicable to 582 tanks spread across more than 100 hectares of land. Of them, only 337 tanks had been given on lease to 255 fishermen associations. A pilot project had been introduce in Nellore district and based on its success, a decision on its implementation in other districts would be taken, he said.

He said the fishermen need not worry about the propaganda being spread about the GO by certain vested interests. The YSR Congress Party government was committed to the cause of their development through the many initiatives being brought to ensure their all-round development, he added.