In a bid to bring respite to the farmers battling with the issue of saline water in and around Muktsar, a Rs 5 crore project of Demonstration cum Training Center was inaugurated by Punjab Cabinet Minister for Rural Development and Panchayats Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa.Speaking during occasion the minister said that now farmers need not to go farm off places in Haryana to get their pond-water and soil for testing as the would now be available at local level.The laboratories setup in the center will help in saving lot of time for the farmers who can dedicate the same in any other productive activity, the minister said.He said that now the saline water in the area can be utitlised for the shrimp farming as the seed of this variety will be made available for the farmers who have converted their land into fish ponds.The minister said that farmers of the area were first encouraged for shrimp farming in the year 2016 after which the farmers expressed dire need of such a center, which is now fulfilled by the government.Earlier the officials of fishery department informed the minister that this new center is spread over in an area of 15 acres and following government’s initiative the area under fish farming in Muktsar, Bathinda and Fazilka districts is increased to 410 acres.The department officials said that they aim to bring 2500 hectare area under fish farming in this belt in coming five years.The minister appreciated the efforts made by the department which is helping farmers to convert their saline filled farms into fish ponds.Among others who were also present during the occasion were Gidderbaha MLA Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Deputy Commissioner M. K. Aravinda Kumar, Chairman Zila Parishad Narinder Kauni, President Congress Committee Harcharan Brar and others.