Maha earmarks 10-acre land in Palghar for fish diseases lab

With a view to give fish exports a fillip, the Maharashtra Government has earmarked 10 acres of land at Palghar in neighbouring Thane for setting up a laboratory for diagnosis of contagious diseases in fish.

The decision was taken at today's cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan.

The total fish exports to USA, Western Gulf countries is about 30 to 35 per cent.

"For quality tests of the fish, it is sent to Centre owned labs in Hyderabad and Chennai and hence the decision to set up a lab in the state has been taken," officials said.

Fish harvesting is done in semi salted water in the state and white spot disease affects the quality of prawns.

In another decision, the cabinet approved a proposal to make mutations on official documents online. This will save citizens from hardships and delays, officials said.

Document registration is computerised in the state.

For any changes in the document, citizens will not be required to be present before the government authorities. After registration of document, the information is passed to the mutation cell in tehsil office.