Report by Manoj Kushwaha and Dhananjay Mishra
The poor cousin of cooperative Fishcofed (apex body of fishermen cooperative) exhorted government to give it a chance to usher in blue revolution in the country. Posting a profit of Rs 92 lakh from a meager Rs 5 lakh last year, the AGM of Fishcofed demanded to be made the nodal agency for housing project for fishermen. For ambitious insurance project, Fishcofed is the nodal agency.
Talking to Indiancooperative.com soon after the conclusion of AGM held on Friday, Prakash Lonare, the Chairman of Fishcofed said that Maharashtra occupies special place in the activities of fishermen. The AGM has decided to open an office in Mumbai. A processing unit costing Rs 50 crores would be also set up for famous pomphret variety of fish at Vasai in Thane district of the state, he added.
Other issues discussed at AGM pertained to training program of fisherman. General Body demanded that government should employ Fishcofed for this purpose as NFDB is not as active at grassroot level as us. We are at the delivery point, said the Chairman.
Talking to Indiancooperative.com Fishcofed Managing Director B K Mishra added that we were in the process of preparing data on cooperatives. About 25 lakh members of 15 thousand fishery societies have been included .We want government to chip in computerizing each society.
Through computerization each of the societies would be linked to us and can thereby benefit from government schemes through the cyber medium, Mr Mishra added. We are ready with the blueprint of blue revolution if only government lends its hand to us, said a confident MD.