The health ministry may have finally blinked to allow small traditional fishermen from Karnataka and Maharashtra, but it has only added to the confusion. Riders like allowing only those fishermen from a 60-km radius are as vague as the fish tests itself. With distance being another parameter, it only adds to the woes of a meagre FDA who is struggling to grapple with the job at hand.
One of the conditions is small vehicles will be allowed entry provided the fish is transported in insulated boxes or with adequate ice. That’s fine, but what about testing it for formalin? The FDA continues to go about random sampling. Secondly, if the government had made up its mind on concessions to small traders, why was there no solution drawn beforehand? Did the government require a protest to change course?
With a host of nebulous terms laid down, including those governing the wholesale trade, the dreaded formalin-in-fish appears long-forgotten. Insulated vehicles and a complicated licensing system are not enough to tackle formalin. The health minister has not set up a fool-proof fish testing system and still relies on random checks. There is not much headway in the state-of-the-art lab proposal. For now, it’s the fish trade and politics of all hues that is
taking centrestage.
The porous monitoring mechanism and the random FDA tests continue to be unpredictable like the English weather. How can anyone explain a situation where fish trucks which were told to vacate the wholesale market in Margao return to do business after the FDA team leaves the premises? Does this not expose the sheer lack of coordination between departments?
While the department admits that it is woefully short of manpower to serve a humongous food industry, and with even the primary job of ensuring clean fish is not even half-accomplished, the FDA appears to be changing focus. If Vishwajit is to be believed, the FDA will now venture out to check food for quality at superstores and malls. This comes at a time when there are bigger issues to deal with vis-Ã -vis hygiene at restaurants. There are hundreds of eateries and road-side gaddas that operate in most unhealthy conditions and continue to be ignored by the FDA team.
The chaos within the health ministry is evident. Posting Iva Fernandes at the wholesale fish market is another desperate face-saver at the time when Vishwajit is losing ground. This is the same Iva who was repeatedly slammed for going public with the first formalin-positive test. Interestingly, Iva is posted at a time when there is no fish available for testing. Also, one wonders what kind of a kit is given to Iva for conducting tests since Vishwajit had an issue with her ‘red’ test.
Government’s fight against formalin is not convincing. Digressing from the fish issue to address other problems is not going to help. FDA’s story has been one of flip-flops and U-turns from day one.
