Machha Chasa Pain Nua Pokhari Khola Yojana (Matsya Pokhari Yojana)

What is Matsya Pokhari Yojana?

Machha Chasa Pain Nua Pokhari Khola Yojana, known in short as Matsya Pokhari Yojana (MPY), is a state sector sub-scheme of the Fisheries & Animal Resources Development Department, Government of Odisha, run under the umbrella Mukhyamantri Maschyajibi Kalyan Yojana (MMKY). The Odia name translates as "dig a new pond for fish farming", and the scheme does exactly that. It pays back-ended subsidy to farmers who excavate a new fish pond on their own land, and to farmers who intensify production in an old, low-yielding pond.

According to the department's MMKY compendium, Odisha holds 7.07 lakh hectares of inland freshwater resources, including 1.56 lakh hectares of tanks and ponds. Freshwater aquaculture production grew 44 per cent in five years, from 5.06 lakh metric tonnes in 2018-19 to 7.34 lakh metric tonnes in 2023-24. Matsya Pokhari Yojana is the department's main instrument for expanding that water area further.

What the scheme sets out to do

• Create additional water bodies for intensive aquaculture by excavating new tanks and ponds across Odisha.
• Promote intensive aquaculture in existing old tanks with low productivity.
• Generate income and employment through freshwater aquaculture.
• Raise pond productivity to 5 metric tonnes per hectare per year.

Who is eligible for Matsya Pokhari Yojana?

You can apply if:

• You are a resident of Odisha with identity and residential proof including an Aadhaar card.
• You hold a bank account in your own name at a branch in Odisha.
• You hold the requisite land free from all encumbrances, with documentary evidence. Leased land is accepted if the registered lease runs at least 7 years from the date of application.
• Your proposed pond has a water spread area between 0.20 hectare and 5.00 hectares with a minimum water depth of 5 feet for Component-I, or between 0.20 and 2.00 hectares for Component-II.
• You already own or lease an old existing pond with very low productivity. This is the route into Component-II.
• You drew similar pond-excavation subsidy earlier for less than 5.00 hectares under another central or state scheme. You may still claim for the balance area, keeping the overall ceiling at 5.00 hectares under Component-I and 2.00 hectares under Component-II.

You cannot apply, or are not eligible, if:

• Any member of your family has received subsidy under the same scheme in the last three years. Matsya Pokhari Yojana counts the beneficiary family as one unit rather than each individual, and one family cannot draw multiple benefits under one scheme.
• You are not a permanent resident of Odisha, or you hold no bank account in the state.
• Your land carries encroachments, encumbrances or an unresolved title dispute, or you cannot produce the RoR and a certified sketch map.
• Your lease is unregistered or runs for less than seven years.
• Under Component-II specifically, you or your family members drew subsidy under MPY, PMMSY or any other similar assistance in the last five years against the same tank. The Assistant Fisheries Officer must certify this in writing.

Preference in beneficiary selection goes to ST, SC, PWD and transgender applicants.

What is the unit cost and subsidy under Matsya Pokhari Yojana?

Component-I; new pond excavation plus one crop of inputs

Component-II: inputs only, for an existing low-productivity tank

The Rs 4 lakh input package in the guideline's annexure is itemised: 600 kg of lime at Rs 12 a kg, Rs 15,000 of pond water management inputs, Rs 2,000 of sampling and testing kits, 6,000 fingerlings at Rs 10 each (Rs 60,000), 7,500 kg of feed at Rs 36 a kg (Rs 2.70 lakh) at a 1.5:1 feed conversion ratio to harvest 5 MT of fish per hectare, Rs 15,000 of medicines and probiotics, Rs 15,000 of harvesting and netting charges, and Rs 15,800 miscellaneous.

The department's own projection for a one-hectare pond is 5,000 kg of fish a year at Rs 150 a kg, or Rs 7.50 lakh of income, giving a gross profit of about Rs 3.50 lakh a year against the recurring input cost. Seed and feed are the mandatory components of the input package; the rest can be varied to suit field conditions.

How to apply for Matsya Pokhari Yojana

1. Register on the Go-Sugam portal at sugam.odisha.gov.in using a mobile number linked to your Aadhaar.
2. Open the Matsya Pokhari Yojana application, choose Component-I for a new pond or Component-II for an existing pond, and fill in your personal, land and bank details.
3. Upload the documents on the Annexure-IIIA checklist — Aadhaar, RoR, certified sketch map, evidence that the land is unencumbered, caste or PWD or transgender certificate where claimed, the registered lease if applicable, the affidavit for joint property, and the first page of your bank passbook.
4. Submit offline if online fails. If the Bhulekh RoR will not verify on Go-Sugam, fill the prescribed Annexure-III form and hand it to the Assistant Fisheries Officer of your block with the same documents. The AFO must upload every offline application to Go-Sugam before any go-ahead is issued.
5. Site inspection. The AFO visits the site within 15 days, takes five geo-tagged photographs of the proposed pond site for Component-I (four for Component-II), and submits the survey and technical feasibility report to the District Fisheries Officer.
6. District Level Committee approval. The DFO convenes the DLC under the Chairmanship of the Collector within 30 days of receiving the application, as required by FARD notification 834/FARD dated 21 January 2023.
7. Collect the go-ahead letter, issued within 15 days of DLC approval. Only after this letter should you begin excavation. In bank finance cases a copy goes to the financing bank and you upload the application to the SAFAL portal.
8. Excavate and stock, then inform the AFO with the Revenue Inspector verification report. Geo-tagged photographs must be taken before, during and after excavation.
9. Claim the subsidy. The AFO files the completion certificate within 15 days, verifies 100 per cent of completed projects, and the DFO releases subsidy by DBT, NEFT or RTGS within 15 days of the joint inspection.

How is the subsidy released in instalments?

Matsya Pokhari Yojana pays back-ended subsidy in two clear stages under Component-I.

Stage one: capital subsidy. After excavation is complete at the unit capital cost of Rs 7 lakh per hectare, the proportionate capital subsidy on the water area actually developed is released against the utilisation certificate (Annexure VIA), four geo-tagged photographs of the site from all angles, and one photograph with the beneficiary taken by the AFO.

Stage two; input subsidy. After fingerlings are stocked and input vouchers plus online transaction receipts are uploaded, the input subsidy follows.

Under Component-II the split is different: 50 per cent of the eligible subsidy is released when the AFO verifies stocking of fish seed and procurement of feed, and the balance on harvest or four months of culture from the date of seed release, whichever is earlier.

A rule worth planning around: any item costing Rs 20,000 or more must be paid for online by RTGS, NEFT or UPI, and the transaction receipt is mandatory for subsidy release. Feed is treated as one item regardless of brand or supplier, so a Rs 2.70 lakh feed purchase across several dealers still needs online receipts. Subsidy is never released directly to a supplier.

How to check your Matsya Pokhari Yojana status

1. Log in to sugam.odisha.gov.in with your registered mobile number and open the dashboard to see the current stage of your application.
2. Ask the block Assistant Fisheries Officer whether the survey and technical feasibility report has gone to the DFO. This is where most files wait.
3. Ask the District Fisheries Officer whether your case went to the District Level Committee and whether the go-ahead letter has been issued.
4. After completion, check with the DFO on the utilisation certificate and the DBT release.

Beneficiary lists are uploaded by the District Fisheries Officer to the Go-Sugam portal and to the Directorate of Fisheries website. Verification is layered: the AFO inspects 100 per cent of completed projects, the DFO or Additional Fisheries Officer cross-checks a minimum of 25 per cent, and the Zonal Deputy Director of Fisheries verifies at least 5 per cent; though subsidy release is not held up for the Zonal DDF inspection.

Why Matsya Pokhari Yojana applications get rejected

• Family already benefited under the scheme in the last three years.
• Land not free from encumbrances, or joint property without an affidavit sworn before an Executive Magistrate carrying the consent of co-owners and legal heirs.
• Lease shorter than seven years or unregistered.
• Pond below 0.20 hectare or shallower than 5 feet, which falls outside the admissible specification.
• Excavation started before the go-ahead letter, which makes the asset ineligible for back-ended subsidy.
• Cash payment above Rs 20,000 per item, with no online transaction receipt.
• No progress within three months of the go-ahead, followed by a one-month notice and cancellation.
• Under Component-II, subsidy already drawn against the same tank under MPY or PMMSY within the last five years.

The scheme also requires a sign board on the pond embankment carrying the scheme name, funding, subsidy, area, beneficiary name and address and year of implementation. Missing this can hold up the final utilisation certificate.

Help and grievance redressal for Matsya Pokhari Yojana

• District Fisheries Officer of your district, the first authority for selection, go-ahead and subsidy release.
• Assistant Fisheries Officer of your block, for feasibility reports, site visits and technical guidance during the culture period.
• Fisheries & Animal Resources Development Department, Odisha, Lok Seva Bhavan, Sachivalaya Marg, Bhubaneswar 751001. Telephone (0674) 2536985 and (0674) 2322960, email fardsec.od@nic.in.
• Directorate of Fisheries, Odisha, Cuttack for escalation.

Applying is free. District officials may enhance their allotted target by up to 25 per cent and reallocate block targets as demand requires, so a district running short of targets is not always a closed door: ask the DFO whether the target has been enhanced before giving up on the year.