BARAMULLA, OCTOBER 15 (KNS): The youth of Baramulla have defied all odds by carving the niche for themselves through setting up fish farming units to earn for themselves and create jobs for others.

Baramulla has been bestowed with famous water bodies having a great potential of fisheries. Angling and fish farming is fast emerging as a potential sector for providing vocation for the rural youth.

The fish farmers in the private sector have increased manifold with hundreds of people getting attracted towards this trade in Baramulla District.

Giving an insight into this new attraction being explored by the local youth to generate income and employment, the Director Fisheries, Irshad Ahmad Shah said that the government has strengthened the fisheries sector to make it a useful instrument of economic growth especially in district Baramulla.

He said a number of developmental and welfare schemes have been launched for providing assistance to rural unemployed youth for taking up fish culture. Fish farming especially of trout with improvised technology applications is proving to be a bullying economic indicator besides supplementing protein in diet.

             The fisheries department is extending technical knowhow in this regard so that they can produce quality products and get remunerative prices and the fish growers all over the district are employing these latest technical knowledge in fish culture to boom the production.

He said the experts interact with the fish growers regularly to boost fish farming in the district. “During last year the department under the  Centrally sponsored schemes (CSS) /  Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampadha Yojna (PMMSY) has constructed 18 No’s of Trout Units, 01 No of Carp Unit and 01 No of Biofloc Unit in the District'', said the Director.

Under Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampadha Yojna (PMMSY), the department provides a subsidy of Rs. 2.20 lacs for construction of Trout Unit for general category and for women/ST/SC category the subsidy component is 3.30 lacs for establishment of Trout Unit.

For establishment of Carp pond the department under Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampadha Yojna (PMMSY) is providing a subsidy component of 0.74 lacs and for women/ST/SC category the subsidy component is 1.10 lacs.(KNS)