MPs from Kerala Hibi Eden and T.N. Parathapan met Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal in New Delhi to impress upon him the requirement for maintaining the headquarters of the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) in Kochi in the wake of reports that the government was planning to shift it to Andhra Pradesh.
The MPs said Kerala was blessed with a long coastline and fishing constituted one of its largest employment opportunities across nine of the 14 districts, providing daily maintenance to about a million people. The presence of the MPEDA headquarters was instrumental in developing a fish export culture, worth about ₹5,000 crore annually.
The fisheries export business, including that of ornamental fisheries, accounts for a substantial part of the State’s economy and the move to relocate the MPEDA headquarters would be a big setback to the sector, the MPs said in their submission before the Union Minister. “We strongly oppose any such move to relocate MPEDA headquarters, which is against the interest of our fisheries sector. We humbly request you to reconsider the decision,” they said.
