Minister of State for Forest, Ecology & Environment, Animal & Sheep Husbandry, Cooperative and Fisheries, Mir Zahoor Ahmad today visited Fisheries Farm at Kokernag, Sheep Breeding Farm Daksum and Rajparian Wildlife Sanctuary and took stock of the infrastructure facilities at these places. During his visit of the Fisheries Farm, the Minister also inspected Sale Centre and Feed Manufacturing Plant and asked the Management of the farm to work with utmost dedication and ensure transparency. Member Legislative Assembly, Abdul Rahim Rather, and senior officers of Fisheries, Sheep, Forest, besides other concerned Departments accompanied the Minister during his tour. On the occasion, officers of the Fisheries department briefed the Minister about the activities of the Fish Farm. It was given out that Trout Fish Farming Project Kokernag is a pilot project spread over an area of 15 hectares. The main objective of the project is production of trout seed which it provides to 45 departmental and 300 private farms units in the state. The Minister was also informed that 40 tonnes of rainbow trout has been produced and sold during the financial year 2015-16 against which an amount of Rs 1.50 crore has been realized. It was also informed that on account of trout fish sale and sale of trout seed more than 4 lakh of trout fisher-lings has been supplied and distributed among the private fish farmers as well as the departmental units. Speaking on the occasion, the Minister asked the Fisheries Department to identify site for establishment of modern Aquarium and also directed them to prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) and submit the same to the concerned quarters for accord of necessary sanction. Later, the Minister visited Sheep Breeding Farm Daksum and enquired about the facilities and functioning of the Farm. The Minister was informed that about 1672 sheep are presently available in the unit. He was also informed that the lambing percentage for 2015-16 was 87.87 and main focus of the Farm is to produce elite germ-plasm through selective breeding and then distribute the said rams to field organizations for breeding purposes. The Minister also visited Rajparian Wildlife Sanctuary, Daksum and enquired about the facilities being provided at the Sanctuary. During his visit several deputations met the Minister and apprised him about their grievances. The Minister gave a patient hearing to the deputations and assured them that their genuine demands would be looked into.
2015 Kashmir Images.