Agartala: Oct 03: State Tourism Minister Sushanta Chowdhury participated in a grand function organized by the campus of the University on the occasion of the ‘Silver Jubilee Festival’ of the College of Fisheries under the prestigious Central Agricultural University in Lembuchhera near the capital Agartala today.
After visiting various events in the college campus, Minister Sushanta Chowdhury said, I am really impressed to know in detail about the various activities and performances of this College of Fisheries in the national arena. He congratulated the Vice Chancellor, Dean and all concerned members of the College of Fisheries for successfully completing 25 glorious years and wished the College of Fisheries great success in the years to come. He wished all the success of the activities scheduled to commemorate the grand celebrations of the Silver Jubilee year.
Minister Sushanta Chowdhury said, College of Fisheries as the 12th Fisheries College in the country in this campus in our state has greatly benefited the North Eastern States. Since its inception, the college has always been at the fore in meeting the needs of fisheries development in the state as well as other North Eastern states. As an academic institute, the college continues to play an important role in imparting quality education and building human resources to develop the fisheries sector. The quality of education in this college is worth mentioning. I am told that three students from this college have topped the ICAR-JRF exam thrice in 2013, 2016 and 2019. I feel very happy to hear that as many as 45 students of this college are working in this sector.
Among them are ICAR as Fisheries and Agriculture Research Scientist in various set-ups and many are holding various high positions in line departments as well as universities. The college’s approach to developing key research and technology-enabled practices for poor farmers in developing fisheries in the region has also been lauded. He further said that several projects currently running in this campus are directly benefiting several fish farmers of the state. This Central College of Fisheries focuses on empowering fish farmers, rural youth, and budding entrepreneurs across Northeast India with extensive outreach and outreach capabilities. On the one hand in-campus and off-campus as well as vocational training programs and designer courses in the emerging field of fisheries and aquaculture are benefiting the beneficiaries in various fields.
He further said “as we know very well that this remote region of ours faces multiple problems from time to time which hinder our parallel development yet our state being an agricultural state, allied sectors like agriculture and fisheries act as the ‘food basket’ of the developed regions of the country, which is a matter of great pride for our state. Considering the changing agro-climatic regime and various environmental, socio-economic factors, the farmers and fish farmers of the region face a tough challenge to meet the needs of the region. Hence the fish productivity is low compared to the national average and this is really worrying”.
“Standing in line, I would request the fish farmers of the state to share their various pros and cons related to fish farming with a platform as advanced as this central university and all the scientists, student researchers of this university to solve the various problems faced by the fish farmers and solve them. Later work has to be done to develop the latest technology to meet the demand. So dear friends of the scientific fraternity, this is the right time to work for the benefit of the fishing brothers. I sincerely thank the college authorities for inviting me on this glorious occasion. I am especially grateful to the organizers for taking such steps which will not only inspire the students but also help them to become good human beings and citizens”, he said. He expressed his sincere thanks to the college authorities for inviting him on this grand occasion.