SHILLONG: Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) Executive Member (EM) in charge of Fisheries, Mitchell Wankhar, has come up with a number of measures to revamp the infrastructure of fish ponds at Lai Lad in Ri Bhoi.
Stating that the inspection was fruitful, Wankhar told The Shillong Times that the department will set up staff office and quarter and godown, and also take up repairing of leaked ponds, water tank reservoir for ponds and boats for feeding the fish, and also provide life jackets for feeders as the ponds are deep. For feeding the fish, bamboos can be used, he said.
“It will be very systematic. We will again check the size of the fish in the coming week as it was in October, 2018, when 80 kgs of fish seeds were released in these ponds. Every three months, the growth of fishes will be monitored. There is also a target that after 10-11 months, the production of fishes will be checked. We are taking steps to modernise the system”, he said.
Wankhar said that if the fish die, the staff should make an entry in the register and inform the office.
As for the amount of funds, Wankhar said that he has placed a proposal and is positively waiting for the approval from the fund implementing committee. “After getting the funds, we will go ahead to modernise it”, he said.
On the other hand, in the long run, the EM said that the Council plans to distribute fish seeds to beneficiaries within its jurisdiction.
“In the long run, we also intend to come up with a training centre with funding from the central government. If beneficiaries are supported to boost fish farming instead of allowing fishing competitions, it will, in a way, ease the demand for fish”, he said.
He said that currently, the District Council does not have any scheme for the beneficiaries and viewed that if the Centre or the state government allocates funds to the District Council, it will enable it to lend assistance to beneficiaries.
