The State government, which is has been making major efforts to bring Blue Revolution’ in villages across Telangana, has been spending crores of rupees to develop Fisheries sector. In the recent times, the government had released fish seedling in various tanks and projects to provide employment to the fishermen. However, it was alleged that these seedlings are being caught at Sri Ram Sagar Project by outsiders, who dry it near the banks of Godavari river and export the same for poultry feed and other usage. In Nizamabad district, the Godavari river enters at Kandukurti village of Renjal mandal and flows till Pochampadu village near Sri Ram Sagar Project (SRSP). In this entire stretch of 60 km, scores of traditional fishermen eke out their livelihood by catching fish in the river. For their welfare, the government had released 59 lakh fish seedling in Sri Ram Sagar Project in Nizamabad and Nirmal districts in July and August at a cost of Rs 1 crore. With this fish seedling, nearly 30,000 fishermen from Nizamabad and Nirmal districts could get their livelihood for an entire year. But, a few outsiders, it was alleged, were catching these fish seedlings in between 250 grams to 500 grams with the help of Fisheries Department officials, Fishermen Federation leaders and local elected representatives. These mediators are believed to be bringing fishermen from Andhra Pradesh and catching these fish. They dry the fish and export the same in 10 to 15 trucks to Nagpur and Hyderabad. SRSP Fishermen Association president Pentala Srinivas said that due to illegal fishing, thousands of fishermen around SRSP have been losing their livelihood. He alleged that Fisheries Department officials, Fisheries Federation leaders and local public representatives had colluded with these outsiders and catching fish illegally. Srinivas wanted the government to take action against the illegal fishing in SRSP. SRSP Fishermen Association vice-president Nagar Raju said that they had appealed many times to the revenue, fisheries and Police Department officials to take action against illegal fishing, but they have not responded yet. On January, 12, the local fishermen had caught some people and handed them over to the Fisheries officers and the leaders of Fishermen Association, but no action was taken out against them. A fisherman, Rajanna said that they have been depending on fishing in SRSP for two decades, but now fear to lose his livelihood. He urged the Chief Minister and Collector to take action against outsiders.
2016, Telangana Today.