The State government’s ambitious programme to boost Blue Revolution’ is facing a hurdle as miscreants are diverting the fish seedlings and are making huge profits, albeit illegally. The State government has spent crores of rupees to develop the fisheries by releasing fish seedlings in tanks and other water bodies across the State, following heavy rains and high water levels last year. This was done to increase the income of fishermen community. However, the fish seedlings are not of great benefit to fishermen, as Sri Ram Sagar Project is now plagued with non-local fishermen hired by local businessmen, who illegally catch the fish seedlings and sell them as poultry feed. River Godavari enters Nizamabad district through Kandukurti village of Renjal mandal, and stores water till Pochampadu village of Sri Ram Sagar Project (SRSP). In the 60 km stretch, thousands of traditional fishermen catch fish, their livelihood depending on the health of fish growth in these waters. Fish seedlings provided by the government, however, are being sold to poultry farms and other private buyers for a gain, adding to the struggles of the fishermen here. The government had, in July-August 2016, released 59 lakh fish seedlings in Sri Ram Sagar Project under Nizamabad, and the same number at the project under Nirmal district jurisdiction. The cost of the move was well above Rs 1 crore. About 30,000 fishermen from Nizamabad and Nirmal districts could have had their livelihood taken care of for an entire year, if only these fish were left to grow. With the release of so many fish seedlings and the support to fishermen announced by the government time and again, local fishermen here were all cheers. However, it has come to light that even officials from the Fisheries Department, just as federation leaders and local leaders, are helping some groups take away the fish seedlings, which are then dried on the banks of the Godavari River. The miscreants bring fishermen from Andhra Pradesh to catch the seedlings. About 40 groups of such non-locals, with each group comprising about 30 members, are working to catch three quintals of fish seedlings per group. Three truck-loads of dried fish seedlings or fish of small size are being exported every day, mostly to nearby cities such as Nagpur and Hyderabad. SRSP Fishermen Association president Pentala Srinivas says that the illegal trade is being done with the support of authorities and leaders. Association vice-president Nagar Raju says that several appeals to officials from the Revenue, Fisheries and Police Departments fell on deaf ears. Recently, local fishermen had caught 12 illegal fishing troops, and had handed over the men and their nets to fisheries authorities and federation leaders. However, the troops were released and no action was taken against them.
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