Puducherry govt launches helpline to assist fishermen

The Department of Fisheries and Fishermen Welfare in Puducherry has launched a helpline to help fishermen contact the department to find solutions to their grievances.

Secretary to the department Purva Garg told newsmen Thursday that fishermen could contact the helpline number(0423-222 7289) to know details of various schemes available to them, incentives and financial succor, and welfare schemes.

Garg said the fishermen could also get details of the status of their applications for relief.

''We want to help fishermen who are the beneficiaries of various Central and territorial government-sponsored schemes,'' she said.

She further said transponders would be supplied to fishermen at a subsidized rate which would help them pass on information to boat owners or to the department whenever they faced hardships during their fishing operations.

''The fishermen can contact the department or theirboat owners during cyclones or other critical situations,'' theSecretary said.

The cost of each transponder is Rs 15,000 and the government would provide Rs 5,000 as a subsidy.

Fishermen would have to incur only Rs 10,000 as their contribution to getting the transponder.

She also detailed various centrally sponsored schemes for fishermen involving an investment of Rs 34.85 crore.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)