The formalin scare has not only left a scar in the minds of fish-loving Goans, but has also exposed our tweet-savvy legislators and the chinks in the systems. And politicos who rushed in to diffuse further panic, only landed up stoking further controversy.
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and a couple of other ministers who took to twitter in damage-control may well land up opening a new debate altogether. The CM tweeted that he was personally monitoring the situation and assured Goans safe supply of fish in the markets. The Chief Minister also instructed the FDA to seize all trucks carrying such fish and even fruits and vegetables. TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai spoke of a mechanism to check fish on a regular basis and came down hard on the FDA. All very reassuring indeed.
But come Sunday, like every weekend where fish markets witness the maximum buzz, there was no sign of the FDA and there were no checks for formalin. The trucks made their routine trips and fish was unloaded with Goans haplessly watching as confused and panicky as before. Health of the people continued to be compromised and caution continued to be thrown to the wind.
On the ground, it’s a sheer ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ attitude that prevails forcing ordinary citizens to resign to their fate. The ground reality stands clearly exposed. Tweets and missives and all the rhetoric on how the government is firm on banning formalin-laced fish mean nothing. And people continue to be exposed to the life-threatening, cancer-causing chemical simply because the government has no proper plan in place.
Let’s not blame the FDA alone, it’s not equipped to handle work-load across the entire State and daily checks at the wholesale fish markets appear to be an uphill task. There are around 20 fish-laden trucks that line up at this market making it virtually impossible for the existing FDA team to keep a tab, given the fact that quick testing is required due to the perishable nature of fish.
So why these false hopes and fake promises? Our tweet-friendly legislators cannot give an assurance to Goans on formalin-free fish without systems in place. Government need to galvanize its resources and even include primary health centres. If the FDA is not in a position to do daily checks on the imported fish, it would make better sense to stop all imports like Assam did, till systems are put in place.
People cannot be exposed to cancer risks because of the shortcomings of our system. The very fact that the FDA has now embarked on a plan to test fish, fruits and vegetables itself indicates that till now we didn’t have a proper plan and that the Authority was going about its job randomly on a hit-or-miss basis. And ministers tweeting instructions to the FDA and giving an “all is well” impression without factoring in the limitations need to cut the cackle.
