Fishcopfed’s repeated complaint of being at the receiving end of the governmental apathy was partly assuaged when Union Minister Radha Mohan Singh lent his audience to MD B K Mishra and Chairman T.Prasad Rao Dora of the apex cooperative body.
Gladdened by the response Mishra whatsapped the photograph under the caption” meeting Agriculture Minister and Secretary on Fishcopfed matters”.
The meeting was focused on strengthening Fishcopfed and Fisheries Cooperatives in the country through Fishcopfed, he later said on the phone.
Fishcopfed had been fretting about that it had been ignored in the ambitious Blue Revolution as the govt proposed an umbrella scheme for it with an outlay of Rs. 3000 crore last year.
But in today’s s meeting Minister heard about the role fisheries’ cooperatives could play in this big change, said a euphoric Mishra.
Fishcopfed’s MD and Chairman also raised the issue of revival of service charges to implement the present insurance scheme, lack of which has badly hit the cooperative body. Other issues discussed were policies and financial support for Fishcopfed and fulfilling training needs of the entire Fisheries cooperative sector.
They also urged the Minister to ask NFDB to provide the country’s fishery cooperatives with adequate financial support.
Responding to a query about the outcome of the meeting, Mishra said “He (Minister) was very supportive and made positive assurances. The fact that he gave us full time in the presence of Secretary (ADH) and Joint Secretary itself shows his keen interest in the development of fisheries and cooperatives. We are fully satisfied with the discussions we had with the minister” he said.
Fishcoped has prepared the biggest database on fishermen co-op societies in the country and insured close to 46 lakh of them in the last fiscal. This may prove handy for the govt said a source close to Fishcopfed.
