Tirupati gets first fish lounge

Tirupati: To make available aqua products to people, ‘Fish Andhra Lounge’ was inaugurated in Tirupati on Wednesday which is the first of its kind in the state. District Collector K Venkataramana Reddy inaugurated the hub and recalled the state government’s intention to increase the consumption of aqua products through such hubs across all the cities in the state with a slogan ‘Fish Andhra – Fit Andhra’.

These hubs are being set up jointly by Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) and Fish Andhra of the state government and loans with subsidies are even provided for setting up the outlets. The government intends to open such hubs in all cities in the state. The lounge in Tirupati was set up by a beneficiary Bhavana Jyothi at Sriram Nagar on the Mangalam road.

Speaking on the occasion, the Collector said that in the state aqua cultivation is going on in 2.12 lakh hectares and 1.38 lakh farmers are depending on it. With 2.27 metric tonnes of aqua products, AP stands first in the country. Similarly, in the State, Tirupati district accounts for over 2,381 hectares of aqua cultivation. But still, the aqua products consumption per head stands at 7 kg only. There are plenty of nutritional values in fish products and experts suggest that there should be at least 25-kg consumption of aqua products per head to be healthy. Fish Andhra lounges will help create awareness among people to utilise at least 30 per cent of aqua products produced in the state by themselves. He called upon people to come forward to open more such lounges in the district.

City Mayor Dr R Sirisha said that as aqua cultivation is going on in a big way in the state, the domestic consumption should also go up. Everyone should come forward to encourage consumption. The government is ready to provide any help to the aqua farmers.

Beneficiary Bhavana Jyothi said that out of Rs 50 lakh unit cost she got a subsidy of Rs 30 lakh with which she could open a restaurant in which fish, prawns etc., are available for sale also. Deputy Mayor Mudra Narayana, district fisheries officer Srinivasa Nayak, LDM Subhash, Bank of Baroda chief manager Yasin Basha and others were present.