The Hindu : Karnataka News : Special rehabilitation plan for six districts

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Sunday, Dec 02, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka

Special rehabilitation plan for six districts

Staff Correspondent

It is to help farmers in 31 suicide-prone regions

Farmers will be encouraged to take up fisheries
They will be encouraged to build fish ponds

Chitradurga: To help farmers of 31 districts, which have been identified as suicide-prone districts, the Union Government, under Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund, had drafted a special package in the last financial year.

Through this package, a proposal was mooted to provide better rehabilitation to farmers by encouraging them to adopt fisheries in their fields.

Since Chitradurga, Hassan, Chikmagalur, Belgaum, Shimoga and Kodagu districts have been included among 31 districts, the package has been extended to these districts.

With the project to be implemented in three years, the State Government sent an action plan for Rs. 6.21 crore.

Sources in the Department of Fisheries told The Hindu that for first year, the department sent a proposal for Rs. 1.86 crore and it had received Rs. 1.66 crore.

The amount allocated for first year is Rs. 26.91 lakh to each district, except for Shimoga, to which Rs. 31.05 lakh has been earmarked. “The same amount will be earmarked for next one year, but for the third and final year, the proposal has been made to release Rs. 41.4 lakh to each district,” sources said.

The State Government has planned to build fish ponds in 169 hectares of land in six districts.

Under the project, the beneficiaries need to build a fish breeding pond in around 2.5 acres of land for an estimated cost of Rs. 2 lakh. The Government would provide 50 per cent subsidy to Schedule Caste and Scheduled Tribes and 40 per cent to others.

Same amount of subsidy would be extended on input cost, which included purchasing of fish and other necessary items.

“Any farmer can avail this benefit provided he owns a piece of land and has water facility”, the official said.

The project was under various stages of progress, as 535 beneficiaries, who had been identified, were building fish ponds, the official said.

While for the first year, work was proposed for 126.1 hectares, rapid progress was being made in 78 hectares of land by 194 beneficiaries. “Some 93 beneficiaries have built the ponds in 31 hectares of land,” the official said.

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