Animal husbandry and fisheries minister Awadhesh Kumar Singh said in the assembly on Thursday that efforts were being made to give a big push to fish production in the state by involving even the local societies of women. Singh said fish production in the state stood at 5.6 lakh metric tonne (MT) as on date against the target of 6.22 lakh MT. “As consumption of fish in the state is 7.02 lakh MT, around 1.42 lakh MT is imported from other states,” the minister said, adding only 2.88 lakh MT of fish was produced in the state in 2010-11.Singh was giving the government’s reply to the House debate on his department’s budgetary demand of slightly over Rs 581 crore for the 2017-18 financial year against which cut motion had been moved by senior BJP member Arun Kumar Sinha. The BJP-led NDA opposition members walked out of the House, demanding that the government take effective steps to stop functioning of illegal slaughter houses in the state. The minister, however, accused the opposition of making attempts to “create an atmosphere of intolerance” in the state by raising the issue of illegal slaughter houses. He said the state government is duty bound to prevent cruelty to animals for which both state and district level committees have been existing. Referring to the state government’s bid to promote accelerated fish production and dairy activities, apart from rearing of cows, goats and poultry, the minister said CM Nitish Kumar has also been paying focused attention to them, and the government is duty bound to evolve and provide alternative sources of income to persons who have been displaced from jobs due to imposition of total prohibition from April last year.
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