Tripura Chief Minister on Friday inaugurated the three-day Fish Festival at the International Fair Ground at Hapa, and visited the remote Urmai village in Sephalijala district.
After interacting with Krishna Debbarma, the owner of a successful orgc fish hatchery, Deb had decided to visit his farm and personally see his work.
Speaking to , Deb said: "This can play a huge role in the development of the state. The village is very far from the main roads and lacks proper investments, yet they have produced huge amounts of orgc fish food."
He further said that the locals claimed that fish feed produced by the villagers is three times the feed produced from machines, and is also higher in quality.
"I request other people to come and witness this work. The government provides subsidized loans for the fisheries. Tripura currently suffers from a fish deficiency of 15,000 metrics. However, with this work, the deficiency will be recovered within three years," he said.
Earlier, Debbarma was in need of a good variety of fish fingerlings and was dependent on others. However, he was denied every time. So, ultimately he decided to open his own fish hatchery in 2017.
Today, he not only fulfills the demand for good quality 'fish fry' of the state, but people from all over the neighboring states come to his hatchery and buy his products.
"I had decided to produce the fish varieties myself. Today, I have control over 12 ponds, and farmers from all over Tripura come to purchase our fish feed. I have employed more than 20 people. The annual income is very good," said Debbarma.
However, Debbarma stated that there has been no support from the government so far in the sale of the fish products.
The workers at the fish hatchery expressed their gratitude to Debbarma for starting this unit where unlike earlier years when they on average used to get work for three days a week at present earns round the year.
One worker said: "We produce all varieties of fish, with much better quality than the varieties found in the market. My earning is much better than my previous one."
Chief Minister Deb also viewed Debbarma as an inspiration for the youth, who can also take initiatives like him with bank loans and contribute to the development and economy of the state.
Later in the evening on his way back to Agartala, Deb stopped at several rural villages and interacted with the people there on the various issues including the present scenario and took their views.
( With inputs from ANI )