CIFRI Awards
ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, Barrackpore organized the Hilsa cum Dolphin awareness and river ranching programme of Indian Major Carps (IMC) in the Ganga at Farakka towards conservation and restoration of indigenous fish species in the river Ganga under the CSR activities of NTPC, Farakka in association with National Mission for Clean Ganga on 22nd Oct. 2022. The programme was inaugurated by the chief guest Mr. R.D. Deshpande, General Manager, Farakka Barrage Authority. The programme was graced by the presence of Mr. Abhijeet Kumar DGM (EGN) NTPC, Mr. Sandeep Kumar, S. E, FBA, Dr. Deepak Nayak (In charge, ICAR-CISH regional research station, Malda) and Dr. Shailesh Kumar, SMS, KVK Malda. Hilsa ranching and tagging programme was carried out on this occasion.
More than 80,000 IMC fingerlings were ranched in the river Ganga. Besides, the tagging of hilsa and ranching was done upstream of the Farakka barrage as a part of the National Mission. From 2018 more than 5 lakhs of IMC fingerlings and 78,000 hilsa were ranched throughout the Farakka stretch of river Ganga under the NMCG and CSR activities of NTPC. Besides this, a mass awareness programme was organized at hilsa ranching station Farakka, in which more than 100 fishermen were participated and sensitized regarding Hilsa and Dolphin conservation, IMC breeding and fingerling ranching in the river Ganga.Shri R.D. Deshpande, GM, FBA expressed his pleasure towards the development of the NMCG project and urged fishermen not to catch small-size hilsa and other fish species. Furthermore, he said hilsa which was available in Agra, Kanpur and Delhi during earlier days should be allowed to re-establish in those areas and praised the ICAR-CIFRI’s initiative towards hilsa and dolphin conservation.
Shri Abhijit Kumar, DGM (Env.), NTPC expressed his pleasure towards achieving the targeted objective of ranching 50,000 IMC fingerlings in the first year of the programme. Shri. Kumar requested fishermen to get involved in the IMC training programme so that individual fishermen could get benefit and could improve their livelihood. Dr. Basanta Kumar Das, Director, and PI of the project in the welcome address highlighted the ICAR-CIFRI’s initiatives towards Hilsa and Dolphin conservation in the river Ganga under the NMCG programme. Furthermore, Dr. Das elaborated on the recent activities towards Ganga IMC broodstock collection, breeding, rearing of fingerlings and ranching for IMC population improvement in river Ganga. These activities under the CSR fund of NTPC not only focus on environmental sustainability but also towards livelihood improvement of local poor fishermen through training programmes on the breeding of IMC. Dr. Das also said ICAR-CIFRI will soon going to establish a portable FRP Carp hatchery at Farakka for rendering training on IMC breeding and larval rearing with support from KVK, Malda. Dr. Amiya Kumar Sahoo, Sr. Scientist and Co-PI of the project welcome the dignitaries and appraised the project activities of Farakka under National Mission for Clean Ganga. 
Dr. Deepak Nayak, Scientist In-Charge, ICAR-CISH regional research station, Malda highlighted the role of KVK in the training and livelihood improvement of the farmers and urged fishermen to involve in the fish breeding training programme under the NTPC CSR programme.Besides the programme, a joint meeting was held between ICAR-CIFRI, FBA, NTPC and KVK, Malda towards upscaling of Hilsa ranching, Dolphin conservation, Fishermen training, hatchery facilities development, fish lock renovation/repair and future plan of work towards hilsa and dolphin conservation in the river Ganga. Efforts would be also taken to make the barrage fish pass more operational for the future conservation of fish and other aquatic animals.
