New Delhi, Oct 9 (IANS): With three lakh fingerlings ranched at three sites in Uttar Pradesh, Union government on Friday launched the 'River Ranching' programme across Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Tripura.

The programme is aimed at addressing increase of fish catch, improved livelihood of fishers and to maintain the cleanliness of the river as they feed on organic remnants and to primarily uplift the depleted fish stock and to enhance production of the ranched fish species.

Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Parshottam Rupala, launched the programme at Brijghat, Garh Mukteshwar in Uttar Pradesh, a release from the Ministry said.

Rupala was joined by Ministers of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Sanjeev Kumar Balyan and Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary, MP from Meerut, Rajendra Agarwal; MLA from Garh Mukteshwar, Kamal Singh Malik apart from Secretary, Department of Fisheries, Jatindra Nath Swain, Chief Executive of National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB), Hyderabad, C Suvarna and Joint Secretary, Inland Fisheries from Department of Fisheries, Sagar Mehra.

In Uttarakhand, a total of one lakh fingerlings were ranched at Chandi Ghat at the Ganga River in Haridwar; in Tripura, a total of 1.85 lakh of fingerlings were ranched at four sites namely, Khowai river at Teliamura, Gomati river at Udaipur, Dhalai river at Kamalpur and Deo river at Dashamighat; in Chhattisgarh, 1.5 lakh fingerlings have been ranched at Mirounee Bairaj in Mahanadi, while in Odisha, 1.5 lakh fingering were ranched at Munduli at Cuttack.

River Ranching programme is introduced as special activity under Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) for augmenting and enhancing the fish production and productivity through expansion, intensification, diversification and productive utilisation of land and water," the release said.

Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries has designated National Fisheries Development Board, Hyderabad as the Nodal Agency under Central Sector component of PMMSY for implementing River Ranching across the country.

"To promote the sustainable use and conservation of fishery resources in an economical and environmentally responsible manner has become the need of the hour. The River Ranching programme is one such activity which can achieve sustainable fisheries, reducing habitat degradation, conserving biodiversity, maximizing social-economic benefits, and assessing ecosystem services," the release added.

As a Phase I programme, the NFDB during 2020-21 has targeted three major river systems, Ganges and its tributaries, Brahmaputra & Barak river tributaries and Mahanadi & other rivers.

Accordingly, six major inland state focusing on length of river belt namely Uttar Pradesh, Tripura, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Uttarakhand, and Bihar were selected along with targeted sites for releasing of fish fingerlings. NFDB sanctioned a total budget of Rs 2.81 crore to ranch 97.16 lakh fingerlings to states as a part of Action Plan 2020-21 of PMMSY.