State fisheries minister Chandranath Sinha said: "We are working on framing this policy to attract investments".
Government officials said that at present, there is no specific policy to attract investments in this sector. The proposed policy will have a comprehensive outline on what incentives, subsidies and grants the state government could provide to entrepreneurs or private companies, reports TheTimesOfIndia.
The fisheries department has several waterbodies across the state that are unutilized. Many waterbodies in and around the city have dried up due to lack of proper maintenance and many waterbodies and small ponds, especially in the eastern fringes of the city, have been filled up for constructing buildings.
Fisheries department officials said that once the policy takes shape, the department could work on giving the waterbodies to entrepreneurs or private companies on long term lease or can develop a waterbody through public-private-partnership (PPP) or joint venture mode.
The waterbodies could be maintained and operated by the private companies for doing aquaculture or setting up water parks. Besides, the waterbodies could also be properly utilised to increase fish production and for pisciculture.
