Jagan’s ‘Fish Andhra’ Struggling To Swim!

[Anta Assamey]

Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s ambitious plan to make jobless youth into young entrepreneurs by helping them set up aqua hubs and sell fresh fish and prawns has hit the rocks what with many of the organisers winding up the kiosks.

The CM had decided to sell fish under the brand “Fish Andhra” as it would also provide nutritious food to the people and also improve the use of marine products. The project taken up on an experimental basis had reportedly failed to reap the desired results. A Leading telugu media house today reported a detailed story on this project which says ‘FishAndhra’ project is struggling to make a mark in the state.

In 2021, Jagan said that an aqua hub would be set up in Pulivendula, his native town, and hundreds of retail centres in surrounding villages to make fresh fish and prawns available to the people. “I never thought that there would be a day when fresh marine products would be sold in Pulivendula but the Fish Andhra project will make it a reality,” he said proudly.

After some time, the hub was shut down but the officials in the fisheries wing reopened it and entrusted the responsibility of running it to some others. Now, only fish is being sold but prawns are not kept available in Pulivendula.

The mini outlets are being opened only once in a week and the organisers are complaining that they are not able to get the maintenance cost at least.

As part of the project, officials prepared plans worth Rs 1,100 crore to provide employment to as many as 80,000 youth in the state. By June 2022, the authorities envisaged to open around 100 aqua hubs and nearly 14,000 mini outlets, along with cold storages, processing units and e-cards but at least 5% of the numbers have not been achieved. Aqua hubs were opened in Pulivendula and Nellore only. Over 355 outlets were opened in the nearby villages, on an experimental basis.

Fish vending machines and kiosks which were planned in a big manner have also been shelved. Those organizing the hub in Nellore lamented that they had bought 20 kg fish but could not sell at least 5 kg of it while the transportation cost for the fish from Godavari districts was very high.

Forget about the businesses making profits, can he at least ensure that the businesses are grounded, wondered the TDP leaders.