New Town pisciculture gets push from Hidco

Kolkata: Prodded by chief minister Mamata Banerjee, about 100 hectares water bodies situated in different locations of Rajarhat New Town were handed over to the state fisheries development corporation (SFDC) by Hidco officials for proper maintenance and fish farming.
Sources in the state secretariat said the decision to hand over the waterbodies to the fisheries department is based on the CM's instruction in the last administrative review meeting at Town Hall.
"In the meeting, CM had advised that for proper farming of fish, waterbodies under different civic bodies should be handed over to the fisheries department,"said an Hidco official.
Accordingly, Hidco officials identified waterbodies located adjacent to Upasanasthal, the water treatment plant in Action Area I, the Eco Urban Village, the SWM Area and Diler Bheri and handed them over to SFDC on a 50:50 profit sharing basis after a moratorium of one year.
SFDC managing director Soumyajit Das said, "The waterbodies will be developed as aqua hubs where fish farming will be done. Besides, stalls selling various fish preparations will also be set up. We are primarily focusing on New Town as the demand for having such fish stalls are high."