Maharashtra government to set up Rs 161-crore fisheries college at Devgad in Sindhudurg

Maharashtra Minister Dattatray Bharane. Pic/File pic

Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Dattatray Bharane on Tuesday directed officials to expedite the process of submitting a proposal regarding establishing a fisheries college at Devgad in the Sindhudurg district worth Rs 161 crore.

According to PTI, a review meeting was held at Mantralaya over the establishment of the college. During a meeting at the state secretariat, the minister said that "the college will be set up on government land at Soundale near Jamsande, with state approval required for construction and related infrastructure."

During the meeting, Bharane also highlighted that the proposal was originally put forth by Fisheries Minister Nitesh Rane. He further asserted that this initiative should cover building construction and all ancillary requirements. Once approvals are in place, the work on construction of the college must be accelerated, he added.

Rane, who was present at the meeting, also underlined the need for having such an institution in Sindhudurg, a coastal district, stressing that trained and skilled manpower was crucial for strengthening the fisheries sector, reported PTI.

He further added, "The agriculture department should finalise technical requirements and submit proposals for the construction of the college, admission of students and recruitment of faculty and staff so that it starts functioning at the earliest."

In April, focusing on India's 5th Marine Fisheries Census (MFC 2025), a mobile application called VyAS-NAV was launched to enable digital data collection with the aim of boosting transparency and efficiency in the fisheries and marine commerce.

The launch of VyAS-NAV marked a shift from traditional methods to a geo-referenced, app-based digital system. The system was designed to cover 1.2 million fisher households nationwide, ensuring transparency and real-time validation.

The mammoth and complex exercise in April was coordinated by the Department of Fisheries (DoF) under the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, as part of the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY).

The Union Fisheries Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh launched the application in April during a meeting of State Fisheries Ministers from across coastal states, held in Mumbai.

In the meeting, Ranjan also reviewed progress and implementation of various schemes in the fisheries sector, PTI reported. VyAS-NAV (Village Jetty Appraisal NAVigator) has been developed by the ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), the nodal agency responsible for implementing the Marine Fisheries Census in nine coastal states.

(With PTI inputs)