Government is mulling to setup a mega state of the art Aquarium /oceanarium at a cost of Rs 400 crore in Srinagar district. The Aquarium/ oaceanarium would come up on the analogy of Sentosa Island Singapore. The facility would be a major tourism attraction and be setup with world-class technology, design and architecture. Principal Secretary Animal, Sheep and Fisheries Department Dr Asghar Hassan Samoon said this during a review meeting of Fisheries department here. The meeting was attended by VC LAWDA, Director Fisheries, Joint Directors of ASH and district officers of Fisheries Department. The district officers of Jammu and Ladakh divisions attended the meeting through video conferencing. To setup a designated fish market for the benefit of fishermen and fish lovers, Dr Samoon said Fish Mandi is also coming up in Batamaloo area of Srinagar. Department will set up a laboratory in the market to check the quality of fishes sold in the Mandi besides waste segregation provision with SMC will be there. He said that the Government is exploring more ways for enhancing the quality and the productivity of fish production in the state and government has already introduced several schemes for the upliftment of the people associated with the trade. He impressed upon the district level officers to chalk out a joint strategy to bring maximum people under the cover of the Scheme introduced by the government for more fish production. Dr Samoon emphasized for timely utilization of funds so that more funds could be released. He stressed upon the officers to give wide publicity and create awareness in local population about different schemes and programes initiated by the government for their upliftment. During the meeting, Director Fisheries gave physical and financial progress of various ongoing works in the department.
