NARSAPURAM: Fisherman families in Andhra Pradesh will be given a financial incentive of Rs 10,000 each under the YSR Matsyakara Bharosa for the fourth year in a row.

The incentive is given to the fishing community families as they are banned from fishing for 61 days, starting from April 15 to June 14. As livelihood becomes difficult and the fishermen are engaged in repairing their boats and nets, the YSRCP Government introduced the YSR Matsyakara Bharosa scheme where Rs 10,000 is given per family to help them tide through during this lean period.

Narasapuram in West Godavari district has a coastline of 19 km and is home to about 2,000 people who depend on fishing for their livelihood. It may be recollected that when he had come to Narsapuram during his Padayatra, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy announced and assured the fishermen that the incentive would be increased to Rs 10,000. As soon as he came to power he launched the scheme in 2019. At that point in time, only 173 people were eligible, but now the number was increased to 1,072 families.

The scheme was also implemented effectively in the pandemic year 2020 and 2021. The AP Government has identified eligible beneficiaries this year and Fisheries joint director PV Satyanarayana said that they were taking up the drive of identifying the families who are following the norm of not venturing into the sea. Over one lakh families are expected to get the benefit in the state, he said.

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