Hemanath Padubidri
Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (NM)
Udupi, Aug 26: The second modern hi-tech fish market of South-India was inaugurated by the district in-charge minister Kota Srinivas Poojary here on Sunday, August 26.
Speaking after the inauguration, Poojary said, "Poor fisherwomen will be given loan at the interest of 3% and a maximum loan from Rs 40,000 to Rs 60,000 will be extended.”
Presenting some of the upcoming plans of the central and state governments for the welfare of women, he stated that every fisherwoman will be given a heat-resistant box worth Rs 5,000.
Addressing the people, MP Jayaprakash Hegde stressed on keeping the market clean.
“For every project, the central government releases 90 per cent of the funds and the state government releases 10 per cent. Therefore, in order to get funds from the central government for the construction of a port near Hejamadi, the authorities concerned must write a complete letter along with the cost of estimation and budget” he added.
Humorously he said “We talk of women empowerment across the country, however the fisherwomen are always strong”.
The arch shaped market is constructed at the cost of Rs 76.92 lacs under the aegis of Coastal Development Authority, Mangalore with the support of the state government and National Fisheries Development Board, Hyderabad, is one of its 10 other projects.
The other high-tech fish markets will come up at Kaup, Katpady, Sasthana, Uppunda and Bydoor (all in Udupi district), Shirali, Ankola and Karwar (all in Uttara Kannada district) and Bantwal (in Dakshina Kannada district).
The new fish market has facilities that include toilets, dressing room, rest rooms, dining and bathrooms and more importantly individual space (cabin) to sit and sell the fish.
Kaup MLA Lalaji R Mendon presided over the function.
Nagaraj Shetty, former president of Coastal Development Authority and NFDC's executive director Dr CK Moorthy were felicitated during the function for being the root cause of its construction.
Shankar Poojary, president, zilla panchayat Katapady , Devdas Hebbar, president, taluk panchayat , Nithin Kumar, president, Karnataka Fisheries Development Board , Vijayalakshmi Acharya, president of Padubidri grama panchayat, Gitanjali Suvarna, zilla panchayat member , Bhaskar Padubidri, Amita Poojary, District Cooperative Fisheries Federation president Yashpal Suvarna, State Fisheries director H S Veerappa Gowda, assistant director Suresh Kumar, Ravindranath G Hegde, Umesh Nagappa Nayak, Vittal Deimane, Junjanna, Gujjadi Prabhakar Nayak were present among the others for the function.