BHUBANESWAR: The left hand of Orissa Government does not know what the right hand is doing. While Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik pitches in for employment generation through private entrepreneurship in the fisheries sector, the Fisheries and Animal Resources Development department kills the very potential by hounding them out. The Kaushalyaganga Fish Farm, under the Directorate of Fisheries, which once was a major source of fresh fish supply to the Capital and livelihood for hundreds, is a case in point. The private entrepreneurs, who were given a portion of the sprawling farm on lease five years ago by the Orissa State Fishermen Cooperative Federation Ltd (Fishfed), have been warned against entering the same premises now. Their investment, running into several crores locked in the farm, could well go down the drain, but the department doesn’t give a hoot. Hiding behind an order of the Orissa High Court, which had declared the leasing process illegal, the Directorate of Fisheries has slapped a notice on the entrepreneurs and asked them not to venture into the farm premises, where they cultured fish for close to 10 years, without permission of the Assistant Director of Fisheries. The hapless investors, who had pumped in close to `1.5 crore through loans from different sources, have no clue as to how to recover the fish stock from the ponds of the Kaushalyaganga farm, whose value is estimated at approximately `2 crore. “Is this how the Orissa Government is going to treat us for investing in the fisheries sector and generating livelihood resources for hundreds of locals when none was willing to burn his finger in the business here?” wondered an entrepreneur. It all started last year in October when Fishfed served the entrepreneurs a notice of lease cancellation abruptly asking them to surrender the ponds immediately. The stunned lessees tried to seek relief from the Orissa High Court. But earlier in April, the High Court had ruled that the sub-lease granted by Fishfed to the entrepreneurs was irregular and bad in law. In 2002, Fishfed had decided to sub-lease 110 acres of fish ponds located at Kaushalyaganga farm for pisciculture because all its efforts of de-weeding and culture had failed. Although the 260-acre farm originally belonged to the Fisheries department, it was given to Fishfed on lease and the latter invested `30 lakh in it, but in vain. That was when Fishfed decided to sublease about 110 acres of the ponds for a period of five years and tender was invited from interested bidders. The whole process was ratified in 2002 by the then Minister and Director, Fisheries. The four investors, who were granted sub-lease, included Biraja Prasad Dash, Kanak Durga Foods Pvt Ltd, Bijay Mishra and Naba Kishore Das. The lease agreement provided for renewal after completion of five years.
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