TATA Project-Public opinion contucted

Tuticorin: The high-level team appointed by the State Government to elicit public opinion on the proposed titanium dioxide project began its two-day tour of villages in Sattankulam and Tiruchendur taluks on Monday.The team, comprising Minister for Higher Education K. Ponmudy, Minister for Tourism N. Suresh Rajan, Minister for Animal Husbandry P. Geetha Jeevan, Secretaries to the Government for Industries and Revenue Shaktikanta Das and Ambuj Sharma, and Commissioner for Mines and Minerals E. Dasaradhan, conducted public hearing at Kulasekarapattinam, Arasoor-I, Arasoor –II, Naduvakurichi and Sasthavinallor revenue villages.

The public, by and large, welcomed the setting up of the plant at Sattankulam. Most of the residents in the proposed project area expressed their willingness to give their land for the project. They requested the Government not to take away the lands at low prices.Mr. Ponmudy said the Government would ensure that the farmers got the price as per guideline values set by the Government for lands in revenue villages. “The Government will don the role of a negotiator to help the public get attractive prices for their land from the Tata group.” The acquisition would be carried out with the consent of the people and according to the Tamil Nadu Land Acquisition Act for Industrial Purposes.The police arrested 22 persons, including Selvaraj, a councillor of the Sattankulam panchayat union, who tried to disrupt the public hearing at Naduvakurichi.

Drive against smuggling of rice

Tuticorn:Collector R. Palaniyandi on Monday inaugurated the operations of two newly procured four-wheelers for the Department of Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection here.Officials sources said the vehicles would be used to strengthen the drive against the smuggling of essential commodities such as rice and kerosene distributed through a network of 831 fair price shops (FPS) and for routine inspection.S.R. Sudharshan, District Supply and Consumer Protection Officer, told that a total of 1,16,881 kg of rice and 3,994 litres of kerosene, all worth Rs. 3,07,972, were seized from different parts of the district between Janu ary 1 and July 30.

“A salesman of one FPS was arrested and 10 others [businessmen and lorry drivers] were charge-sheeted under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955,” he said.Besides, 35 salesmen were suspended after irregularities were detected in the stock inventory and accounts registers at FPS shops during surprise checks by senior officials.“A fine of Rs.12,45,354 was imposed on the salesmen, in toto, for manipulation of accounts and stocks and for issuing bogus bills.”Mr. Sudharshan said the district administration had intensified efforts to eliminate bogus family cards, considering that the Government spent a huge amount of money as subsidy on rice against each card.“We removed about 10,000 bogus cards from the list this year till July 30 for having incorrect data of addresses and duplication of names in it.”

200th anniversary of Lady of Snows Basilica

Tuticorn:Devotees pulling the golden car of Our Lady of Snows Basilica in Tuticorin on Sunday.The 200th anniversary of the Golden Car at the Our Lady of Snows Basilica here was celebrated with pomp and gaiety on Sunday.This year, the ‘Golden Car feast day’ was organised simultaneously with the silver jubilee of the church becoming a Basilica and the 425 anniversary of Our Lady of Snow shrine.The Car was pulled by devotees from the Basilica premises through Mathakoil Street, St. Peter Koil Street, Periyakadai Street, Great Cotton Road and South Beach Road to culminate at the starting point, after a four-hour journey.

A few lakh of devotees from across the country witnessed the procession.Church sources said the star at the top of the Car, resting on a golden crown, signified the name of Our Lady as the Star of the Sea (Stella Maris). “The star illuminates the world, warms the minds, increases virtues and destroy wickedness.”The star symbolised five prerogatives of ‘Our Divine Mother:’ her divine motherhood, her immaculate conception, her perpetual virginity, as a channel of divine grace and as the gate of heaven.The golden crown on which the star was fixed highlighted the fact that the ‘blessed virgin’ was crowned as the queen of heaven and earth.The police provided tight security around the Basilica and all along the procession.About 700 police personnel from Tuticorin and neighbouring districts were deployed.A 15-member swift action force team, under the direct supervision of Superintendent of Police Deepak Motibhai Damor, patrolled the area in motorcycles.

State police shooting championship started

Tuticorin:Inspector-General of Police (Operations) N. Tamil Selvan inaugurated the three-day State police shooting championship at the police shooting range at Valanad, near here, on Thursday.About 300 police personnel (both men and women) representing seven zones — North Zone, South Zone, Armed Police Zone, Greater Chennai City Police zone, Central Zone, West Zone and Headquarters Zone — are taking part.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Greater Chennai City) S.R. Jangid, Inspector-Generals of Police Tamil Selvan and C. Sylendra Babu and Superintendent of Police (Kancheepuram district) A. Amalraj are the four Indian Police Service (IPS) officers contesting the event.The competitions: rifle (100 yards standing, 200 yards kneeling, 300 yards prone and 300 yards snap), service rifle (300 metres prone, standing and kneeling), pistol/revolver (15 yards squatting, 50 yard attack, 25 yards application and 50 yards snap), centre firing (25 metres precision and duelling), and carbine machine gun (50 yards standing, 25 yards battle crouch and 20 yards battle crouch) categories, for men and women separately.

F. M. Hussain, Additional Superintendent of Police, Tamil Nadu Commando School, is the chief referee.According to official sources, medals will be distributed to overall champions in the men and women categories as well to the combined overall champion.Contestants with points as per the qualifying norms/criterion specified will be eligible to take part in the national police shooting competition to be held in Orissa later this year.Deputy Inspector-General of Police (Tirunelveli range) P. Kannapan, Commandant of Small Arms Johnson Antony Jeyapal and Superintendent of Police (Tuticorin) Deepak M. Damor were present at the inaugural function.

Education infrastructure in Kayathar panchayat

Tuticorin: The Centre for Human Empowerment through Education-related Services, a non-governmental organisation based at Eppothumvendran near here has urged the district administration to augment the educational infrastructure in Kayathar panchayat union.Speaking to reporters here on Saturday, Sister Assunta, Director of the group, said that of the 130-odd villages in the Kayathar block, 25 hamlets did not have any educational institutions.

According to her, 11 out of the 25 hamlets have about 10 to 25 primary school-going children residing there.Owing to lack of educational infrastructure, these children were forced to go to schools, which were very far from their houses.“Compounding their woes, the public transport services were inadequate in the Kayathar block,” she said adding that the students were thus forced to walk long distances to reach schools if they wanted to pursue education.She said that the authorities concerned should take steps to establish more schools across the block and to introduce frequent bus connectivity within the block.

Blue Dolphin developed by FCRI !

A costly variety of ornamental fish was artificially bred for the first time in the country, Fisheries College and Research Institute (FCRI) officials have claimed.'Malwai blue dolphin' was developed at a private hatchery owned by one G Saravanan of Tuticorin with the help of FCRI.
The initiative also received help from Directorate of Fisheries Extension and Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University.Dr J D Jameson, Director of FCRI, said the fish is very sensitive and even a slight disturbance would put it into an alarm situation, which could also be fatal for it.

He said all the necessary arrangements were made to provide a natural environment for the fish.It was reared in a water tank with a capacity of 500 litres."As it is a 'shy' fish, a few stones and rocks were provided to help it hide and feel at home."

The bottom of the tank was spread with sand and the water temperature was maintained constantly at 24 to 26 degrees Celsius, said D Venkataramani, FCRI dean.The incubation period was three weeks. The fish, which takes one year to attain sexual maturity, would grow up to 25t cm if it is a male and 17 cm in case of female.Around a dozen fish could be reared in the hatchery.

The adult fish would fetch Rs 1,000 while babies cost Rs 250, Jameson said. (Agencies)

89 water projects to be implemented in Tuticorin

Tuticorin: The Collector, R. Palaniyandi, has said that a total of 89 drinking water supply projects would be implemented in the district on an outlay of Rs.4.21 crore earmarked under the Individual Power Pump Scheme (IPPS), during the current financial year.Speaking to reporters here on Monday, he said that a submersible pump, borewell, pump room, an overhead water tank, supply pipes and public taps would be established under each of the 89 projects, to augment water supply to as many number of locations/places.

On other drinking water projects envisaged for the current fiscal, he said that under ‘special schemes’ category, water supply would be established to 36 schools, 16 Adi Dravidar colonies and three boys hostels for Backward and Most Backward Classes, at a cost of Rs.1.22 crore.Likewise, rejuvenation of 30 water sources situated across the district would be carried out at a cost of Rs.60 lakh taken from the corpus of ‘special schemes’.Dr. Palaniyandi said that the administration plans to augment the drinking water supply to Kovilpatti town at an estimated project cost of Rs.35.96 crore and establish a combined water supply scheme (CWSS) for Perunkulam and Sawyerpuram town panchyats at a cost of Rs.2.02 crore.

The Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the two schemes had been prepared by Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board. The reports were recently sent to the TWAD Board head quarters for approval.He said that water supply improvement works were planned at Kayalpattinam Municipality too, similar to the scheme chalked out for Kovilpatti municipality.The Collector said that underground sewerage schemes (USS) would be established soon at Tiruchendur Town Panchayat and Tuticorin Municipality at a total cost of Rs.57.62 crores.

A new sewerage scheme for Tuticorin Municipality was mooted as the existing scheme established in 1985 covered just 20 per cent of the total area under municipal limits.“We are planning to establish USS at Kovilpatti and Kayalpattinam municipalities too in a phased manner,” he added.

19 town panchayat will augment infra fecili

Tuticorin: Starting this financial year, the Department of Municipal Administration will augment infrastructure facilities in the 19 town panchayats in the district on a total outlay of Rs 9.5 crore in four phases.The Collector, R. Palaniyandi, said that the total allocation would be distributed equally to the administrations of 19 town panchayats at a rate of Rs. 50 lakh, to plug gaps on the infrastructure front in the respective regions over four fiscals ending on 2010-11.Of the Rs. 50 lakh allocated to each town panchayat, Rs. 35 lakh would come from the corpus created under All Town Panchayats Anna Renaissance Scheme and the rest from the Infrastructure Gap Filling Fund under the State Finance Commission Grants.

During the current fiscal (2007-08), the project would cover Kanam, Authoor, Arumuganeri and Sawyerpuram town panchayats.Mr. Palaniyandi said that as part of the scheme, streetlights fitted with energy saving compact fluorescent bulbs and community halls for self-help groups would be established at the respective village panchayats.Besides, desilting would be carried out to augment the capacity of water bodies .The roads would be strengthened wherever it was found necessary.Mr. Palaniyandi said that during the next financial year (2008-09), development works would be taken up at Kazhugamalai, Thenthiruperi, Alwarthirunageri, Sattankulam and Srivaikundam town panchayats.

The town panchayats of Nazareth, Vilathikulam, V. Puthur, Udangudi and Perungulam would be covered in the third stage of the project to be implemented in 2009-10.In the final phase (2010-11), infrastructure facilities at Ettayapuram, Eral, Tiruchnedur, Kadambur and Kayathar town panchayats would be strengthened.A committee headed by the Collector would be constituted to review the progress of development works taken up.The other members of the committee include the Project Officer of District Rural Development Agency, the Assistant Director of Town Panchayats, the Executive Engineer of TWAD Board, the Assistant Executive Engineer of Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, the executive officer of the respective town panchayat and the Deputy Director of Health Services.

Intensive Cotton Development Programme at Tuticorn

Tuticorin: The Department of Agriculture will implement an Intensive Cotton Development Programme (ICDP) on an outlay of Rs.24.56 lakh during the current fiscal to augment cotton production in the district, which was on the decline in the last two decades.Official sources said that the area coverage under cotton in the district plummeted from 43,878 ha in 1986-87 to 5,830 ha during the last financial year.

The ICDP was envisaged under the Mini Mission-II of the Technology Mission on Cotton.The project will provide assistance for extension development activities like technology transfer by means of demonstrations, training in the latest farming practices, supply of critical inputs like seeds, pheromone traps, bio agents and sprinklers, all with an aim to enhance production as well as lint quality of cotton.

M. Mohanados, Joint Director of Agriculture, said that as part of the project, a total of 39 kilograms of breeder seeds would be multiplied at select farmers’ holdings at Ottapidaram, Kovilpatti, Kayathar, Vilathikulam, Pudur and Tuticorin blocks under the project, to produce 7,000 kilograms of high yielding varieties of certified seeds.The certified seeds will then be distributed at subsidised rates, for which the Department of Agriculture has allocated Rs.1.4 lakh from the total project cost.

Mr. Mohanados said that assistance would be provided to the farmers to treat the seeds with bio agents like trichoderma virudi to enhance its resistance to seed-borne pathogens.To counter pest attacks on the cotton plants, pheromone traps will be supplied at subsidised rates.“We will give a maximum of 12 numbers of traps for every hectare of cultivation,” the Joint Director said.
Besides, power sprayers totalling 450 numbers and hand operated sprayers totalling 350 numbers too will be supplied at 50 per cent subsidy.Mr. Mohanados said that 100 pest surveillance plots would be set up at random at a cost of Rs.1 lakh to study the nature of pest attacks in various places.“Such a study will help us to provide guidance to the farmers on area specific pest control measures,” he said.The training to cotton farmers will conducted at a cost of Rs 2.5 lakh to educate them on the latest cotton growing techniques.

Over 500 girls take part in cultural meet

Students participating in a ‘rangoli’ event in Tuticorin on Thursday.An inter-school cultural meet was organised as part of the ‘Diamond Jubilee jamboree’ of Subbiah Vidyalayam Girls Higher Secondary School here on Thursday.Essay competitions were conducted on topics such as ‘Role of students in renovating the city,’ ‘Self-reliance and self-confidence,’ and ‘Role of Information Technology in modern life,’ for students of middle schools, high schools and higher secondary schools respectively.Elocution events too were conducted in three levels on themes such as ‘President Kalam’s dreams about children,’ ‘Internet – a boon or a bane?,’ and ‘Globalisation.’

Besides, dance, drawing, ‘rangoli,’ fancy dress, floral designs (‘pookolam’) and mehndi competitions were organised.In the vegetable carving event, competitors made crocodile park, fountains, ponds and chariots using carrots, pumpkins, cabbages, brinjals and bananas.About 550 girls from 24 schools in Tuticorin and Kovilpatti Educational districts took part in the event.The Chief Educational Officer, David Balasingh, inaugurated the cultural programme.The Headmistress of Subbiah Vidyalayam Higher Secondary School, P.K. Pappusundari, was also present on the occasion.

Security System to be installed at Tuticorn Port ..

The Tuticorin port will shortly have an integrated security management system. Under the Rs. 1.3-crore facility, closed-circuit televisions will be set up in 29 places for surveillance of sensitive areas, a radar will be installed for navigational guidance and the access control system will be modernised, Port Trust Chairman N. K. Raghupathy said on Wednesday.

Stage demo by Students

Members of the All India Students’ Federation staging a demonstration in Tuticorin on Sunday.Members of the All India Students’ Federation staged a demonstration here on Sunday.They urged the authorities concerned to improve educational facilities in the district.The agitators said that steps should be taken to open more government colleges, besides augmenting facilities at government hostels for students.

According to the cadres, uniform syllabi should be evolved at school level after scrapping different types of syllabi like Anglo Indian, Matriculation and CBSE.The banks should expedite disbursal of educational loans to needy students, instead of making them wait for long periods.Bus passes should be distributed to all college and school students at the earliest.They urged the district administration to run more number of buses to rural areas to facilitate students to reach colleges and schools situated in the towns easily.Stalin Mahendra Singh, State joint secretary, and J. Murugan, district president of the AISF, spoke.

New earth movers for municipality

Tuticorin: The Minister for Animal Husbandry, P. Geetha Jeevan, flagged off the operations of a ‘mechanical earthmover/excavator’ and a ‘dump truck’ purchased newly by the Tuticorin municipality, at a function held here on Saturday. R. Lakshmi, Municipal Commissioner, said that the automobiles were purchased at a cost of Rs.28 lakh using the 12th Finance Commission grants to strengthen the ongoing solid waste management project.

The dump truck would be used for carrying the solid waste coming out of houses and commercial establishments to the compost yard operated by the municipal administration at Tharuvaikulam near here.The Municipal Chairperson, R. Kasturi Thangam, and the Municipal Engineer, S.A. Rajagopal, were present.

TNEB's golden jubilee celebrations

The Tuticorin Thermal Power Station is illuminated as part of the celebrations on Tuesday.The golden jubilee celebrations of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) organised by the employees of Tuticorin Thermal Power Station (TTPS), was held with pomp and gaiety here on Tuesday evening.Inaugurating it, the Collector, R. Palaniyandi, said that the development of TTPS in tandem with the expansion of infrastructure like airport and port over the next few years would catapult the industrial status of Tuticorin to greater heights.

Complimenting the TNEB for its exponential growth registered in 50 years, he said that installed capacity of the Board increased from 256 MW in 1957 (the year of establishment) to 10,098 MW in 2007.The number of electrified towns, villages and habitations rose from 1,813 to 63,177 during the same period.G. Selvaraj, Chief Engineer, TTPS, said that gross energy generation of TNEB presently stands at 63,038 million units, while it was just 1,053 million units in 1957.Comparing the statistics in 1957 vis-À-vis 2007, he said that the number of sub-stations increased from 89 to 1,148, number of distribution transformers from 3,773 to 1,73,053, length of extra high tension and high tension lines from 11,479 km to 1,54,068 km, and length of low tension lines from 13,055 km to 5,01,807 km.

Likewise, the per capita consumption increased from 21 units to 960 units and peak demand grew from 172 MW to 8,803 MW, over the last five decades.He said that two more units of 500 MW each capacity would be established at TTPS soon, which was expected to generate employment to thousands of people and boost the economic activity in the town.The Minister for Animal Husbandry, P. Geetha Jeevan distributed prizes to winners of various cultural competitions conducted as part of the celebrations.

Record handling at Port

Tuticorin: The Tuticorin Port Trust has created a record in the handling of urea in a single day on June 30, by discharging 7,800 tonnes from a vessel, M V Heng Shun, berthed at V.O.C.Wharf. Official sources said that the previous record in the discharge of urea was 6,125 tonnes.

Over 500 cases registered against two-wheeler riders

The Superintendent of Police, John Nicholson, questioning a two-wheeler rider in Tuticorin on Sunday.Even as the police started “advising” two-wheeler riders to wear helmets from July 1 in the areas other than the Corporations, a total of 530 cases were registered against the riders in the district on Sunday “for not carrying essential documents with them.”As the Government Order on wearing helmets came into effect on July 1, the police stopped the motorists without helmets and advised them to wear headgear.

When the riders failed to produce documents such as licence, registration certificate and renewed insurance certificate, cases were registered against them.However, no case was registered for not wearing helmets.While 126 cases were registered in Tuticorin town, 19 persons were booked in the outskirts. Similar vehicle check-up at Maniyachchi, Sattankulam Srivaikuntam, Vilaaththikulam, Kovilpatti, Tiruchendur ended up in booking of 385 cases.

Adam's bridge is not man made-Reports

Tuticorin: Adam’s Bridge is only a formation of discontinued sand islands/formations running about 27 km between Dhanushkodi and Talaimannar.Making a passage for Sethusamudram project by destroying a part of it will not create any geological imbalance in the region.This was stated in a paper titled ‘Scientific understanding of Adam’s Bridge’ published by N. Ramanujam, professor and Head, Post Graduate Department of Geology and Research Centre, V.O.Chidambaram College, Tuticorin, a few days ago.The paper throws light on the origin and the evolution of the Adam’s Bridge, right from the tectonic and ‘paleogeographic’ events recorded in sequences in the Cauvery basin, which eventually led to its creation.

Dr. Ramanujam says that the Adam’s Bridge is nothing but deposits formed by the extension of foreland spits of long shore currents from the both sides of Dhanushkodi and Talaimannar. According to him, three studies conducted by the Geological Survey of India in 2003, two on Dhanushkodi land mass and one on the nearest of the 18 sand formations from Dhanushkodi which constitutes the Adam’s Bridge, clearly substantiated the continuum of the sedimentation pattern in the region.

“A study of sand samples determined the age of Adam’s Bridge as 20,000 years, not 17.5 lakh years as believed in a section of society,” he says.The alignment chosen for the construction of the project was ideal, as the choice of other alignments which came up for deliberations during the preliminary stages of discussions would have disturbed the coral reef eco system in the Gulf of Mannar region, he adds.

Human chain to against Drug

Tuticorin: A total of 300 college students and NSS officers formed a ‘human chain’ here on Tuesday, as part of ‘International Day against drug abuse and illicit trafficking’ celebrations observed by the Narcotic Intelligence Bureau along with Empower, an NGO, in the town.The chain was constituted under the slogan — ‘Do drugs control your life and community? No place for drugs.’

Speaking to media persons, Inspector of NIB P. Nagarajan said that the main objective of the formation of the chain was to tell the public about the ill-effects of using ‘drugs of abuse’ (other than ones used under medical prescription).He said that the ‘drugs of abuse’ were broadly classified as Narcotic Analgesics like opium and its derivatives, morphine and brown sugar, stimulants such as cocaine and amphetamines, depressants like barbiturates and alcohol, hallucinogens like mescaline, cannabis like ganja and hashish, and solvents such as petroleum derivatives.

The Sub-Inspector of NIB G. Pethurajan and the Executive Director of Empower A Shankar were present.Athencottasan Muthamizh Kazhagam, a non-governmental social service organisation, also observed world anti-drug day every year.The ‘AMK de-addiction centre’ observed the day with an elocution competition at district level for school and college students.Collector Dev Raj Dev inaugurated an anti-drug sticker pasting campaign. Narcotics wings in Kanyakumari district organised a human chain from the Collectorate to Veppamoodu junction.Meanwhile, the day was observed at Kurunthancode block where more than 200 women participated.

Grievance day meeting in Tuticorin

Farmers participating in a grievance day meeting in Tuticorin on Thursday.Collector R. Palaniyandi has said that short term crop loans to the tune of Rs. 19 crore and medium term loans worth of Rs. 55 lakh would be disbursed through Primary Agriculture Co-operative Societies to farmers in the district during the current fiscal.

Similarly, a total of 820 tonnes of fertilizers would be distributed through the Public Distribution System outlets run by the Department of Co-operation during the same period.He was evaluating the performance of various departments such as Agriculture, Horticulture, Fisheries, Agri-engineering, Co-operation and Animal Husbandry during the current fiscal till May 31, at the Agriculture Production Committee convened by the administration here on Thursday.The Collector said that Rs 2.63 crore of short term loans and Rs. 69.64 lakh of medium term loans had been disbursed during the first two months of the current financial year.On agriculture production, he said that 4,959 tonnes of rice and 504 tonnes of pulses were produced in the district during April and May.

The production target for rice and pulses for this fiscal were set at 85,700 tonnes and 11,200 tonnes respectively. Mr. Palaniyandi said that to enhance productivity, high yielding seeds of paddy (200 tonnes), millets (24 tonnes), pulses (55 tonnes), cotton (12 tonnes), and oil seeds (29), would be distributed to the farmers at subsidised rates during the current fiscal. R. Bharat Kumar, Assistant General Manager of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, and senior officials of various departments were present.Later, answering queries of farmers at a farmers’ grievance day meeting, the Collector said that the Public Works Department was asked to prepare a proposal to seek soft loans from NABARD for desilting irrigation tanks in the district.

Farm breeds 60 types of fish

Tuticorin: A drive to Sakkammalpuram situated about 20 kilometres from here will lead to Rajan and Co. Aqua Garden, an ornamental fish farm run by G. Saravanan (29).Situated on one-acre plot, the farm breeds 60 varieties of ornamental fish and fetches him about Rs 60,000 a month.Born in an agrarian household, Mr. Saravanan’s life changed after he attended a course on ‘ornamental fish culture’ at Fisheries College and Research Institute (FCRI) here a couple of years ago. He says that the programme, completed under the tutelage of professor J.D. Jameson, gave him a perspective about farming techniques and the ways to explore market segments.

With a capital of Rs. 10 lakh, most of which was borrowed and a portion procured as credit under the Prime Minister’s Rozgar Yojana, the farm was opened in 2002.Now the grange is equipped with 80 glass tanks and 120 cement tanks to breed and nurture ornamental fish.Valuable varieties such as ‘African cichlids’, which cost up to Rs. 1,200 a pair, and ‘Discus,’ which cost Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 5,000 a pair, are bred here.To maintain an eco-friendly atmosphere, Mr. Saravanan refrains from using chemicals to breed fish.

“Diseases, if traced, are cured promptly in consultation with the Dean of FCRI, V.K. Venkataramani,” he says.He now plans to breed ‘Scleropags formosus,’ an ornamental fish used for ‘vaasthu’ purposes, on a large-scale.“Our market survey says that a lot of people believe that the fish can bring luck to their houses. A single fish will cost Rs. 25,000,” he says.He also adds that authorities are offering him power at commercial rates, though fish farming is being considered on a par with other agriculture activities.“We need a lot of power to circulate water in the tanks and to draw groundwater,” he says.