The government has approved a Rs 450.15 crore (Rs 4.50 billion) package for marine fishermen, including a Rs 1.50 per litre rebate on diesel and subsidy on fishing vessels.

Following efforts by Petroleum Minister Ram Naik, whose North Mumbai Lok Sabha constituency is home to a large number of fishermen, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs earlier this week approved a comprehensive package for development of marine fisheries, official sources said in New Delhi.

The Mini-Budget 2004-05

Diesel for fishing boats will be supplied at a discount of Rs 1.50 per litre, entailing an outlay of Rs 125 crore (Rs 1.25 billion). Of this, Centre would foot Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) bill while the remaining will be borne by the states.

The rebate on diesel will benefit users of 18,000 small-scale fishing boats.

The government will also provide a subsidy of Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) for motorising 10,000 traditional fishing boats. The estimated outgo on this would be Rs 52 crore (Rs 520 million), of which Centre will bear Rs 13 crore (Rs 130 million). Motorisation of traditional boats will increase fish production by 20 per cent.

Further, a subsidy of 10 per cent of cost, restricted to Rs 400,000, would be given for improvement of design of intermediate boats. 628 new generation fishing boats will be introduced through this subsidy.

A 20 per cent subsidy (maximum Rs 30,000) would be given for installing GPS and wireless sets on small mechanised boats to ensure safety of fishermen, sources said, adding 10 deep sea fishing vessels would be funded by way of subsidy of upto 50 per cent [maximum of Rs 15 lakh (Rs 1.5 million)].