Is it plastic, or a real egg? When Cortalim MLA Aleixo Reginaldo displayed an egg in the Assembly Complex saying it was plastic, it stunned the House into silence and members were left guessing for themselves on probabilities. While members in the House continued to speak in hushed tones and debate over fake, contaminated and real, the negative FDA test on eggs only proved that Goans continue to remain baffled and suspicious over their food. And the egg was only the medium through which the Curtorim MLA made his point loud and clear.
While the eggs made their obnoxious entry into the hallowed Assembly complex, we could see a virtually shaken Tourism Minister Babu Ajgaonkar rise up trying desperately to shield his tourism pie. We could also see a confident Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar ruling out ‘plastic eggs’, even before the tests could be done, thanks to his ‘engineering’.
In the end, it’s not always about what’s positive or negative. If that was the case, FDA had claimed that the test on fish was also formalin-negative, but the government still bowed down to public pressure and announced a temporary ban. It’s about a shaken mindset of Goans which is fused with sheer disbelief and insecurity over what has happened thus far. It’s about a Goan who is confused over his food choices, with a cloud of uncertainty lingering in his mind.
The government cannot continue to be pretentious. All is still not well on the ground and two days ahead of the end of ban period, there is no word of the mechanisms which were promised to be put in place, neither is there any indication of extension of the ban.
The industry demands that the fish import ban should not be extended since it will adversely affect the 12-odd fish exporting units in the state. On the other side, Ajgaonkar is getting goose bumps with the tourism season fast-approaching. Trade and tourism are important to the State, but the government cannot hide shortcomings putting the health and lives of Goans at risk.
The plastic egg scare comes on a day when in faraway Canacona over 10,000 mangoes were destroyed after FDA tests found that calcium carbide was being used for ripening them. An isolated raid at Canacona or few occasional raids in the Mapusa market is not going to change mindsets. People need fool-proof systems at every level. Every eatable which is brought into the state needs to be checked for quality. We cannot keep on blaming the FDA for its manpower crunch or inefficiencies. Government must come out openly on its plans to insulate the food scares. There is a lot of ground to be covered if government has to win back the confidence and trust of the people of Goa vis-Ã -vis the food they consume, especially fish.
