Bhubaneswar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday laid foundation stone of a state-of-the-art hygienic wholesale fish market at Bahrda (Basta) in Odisha’s Balasore district over video conference.
The Prime Minister also inaugurated and laid foundation of various fisheries projects worth Rs 1200 crore under PMMSY and FIDF and launched Rollout of Vessel Communication & Support System worth Rs 364 crore today at Palghar, Maharashtra.
Union Minister of Panchayati Raj and Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Rajiv Ranjan Singh, Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Ministers of State Fisheries Prof. SP Singh Baghel, George Kurian, and Shantanu Thakur were present in the programme.
Attending a function organised at Bahrda, Odisha’s Minister for Fisheries & ARD, Gokulananda Mallik, said that the wholesale fish market will facilitate trading of marine, brackish and inland fish in a single window to promote export potential.
Describing it a unique flagship project in the State, Mallik said that Odisha is the fourth largest fish producing state having 7.07 lakh Ha inland, 4.81 lakh Ha brackish water areas. The project with an estimated cost of Rs 78.25 crore will be completed by June 2026, he said.
The fish market under centrally sponsored scheme of Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) will have facilities of laboratory, vendor shops, rest and packing room, loading and unloading bay, blast room, chiller plant, security barrack, parking, solar and power system, fire safety arrangement etc. The market stretching 20 acres of land will of 2500 MT capacity.
Among others, Balasore MP, Pratap Chandra Sarangi, Balasore MLA, Manas Kumar Dutta, Basta MLA, Subasini Jena, Collector Suryawanshi Mayur Vikas and Director, Fisheries, Md. Saddique Alam were present.
