Yes, no, yes and a no again, and finally Health Minister Vishwajit Rane lets it go. The Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) eventually issued an order revoking registration certificates of 33 Food Business Operators (FBOs) and fish traders for failing to submit their municipality trade licenses within the October 17 deadline set against the backdrop of the formalin-in-fish controversy.
That brings us to one question: Why was Rane hesitating to crack the whip, despite the fact that four deadlines have not been met. The health minister was in complete denial and even told the media that nothing can go through without his signature and that he has not signed any order yet. The people of Goa know that the FDA has been playing hide-and-seek due to the pulls and pressures within. If the infamous July flip-flop on formalin-in-fish has shattered the trust on the authority, this indecision over revoking licenses of errant fish traders has exposed the department even further.
Rane has claimed that he is burdened with too much work, but this can’t be an excuse for such a serious issue. The health minister also tweeted that a final decision on revocation would be taken within two days after examining the file, only to retract when showed a copy of the order signed by the FDA director. With an upright officer in Iva Fernandes already being hauled up for blowing the lid off in the formalin imbroglio, it could now be the turn of the FDA director for going ahead with the revocation without getting the nod from the health minister.
Apparently there is a touch of politics to this ‘yes and no’ story. Going by Rane, he got a green signal from TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai for “firm and stringent measures” against imports, and that is when the health minister agreed to go by the order of the FDA director. We still wonder where Vijai fits into this picture.
There are big stakeholders in fish imports and the very fact that the government’s successive deadlines on registrations have been conveniently ignored only reflects the care a damn attitude of fish traders. And for the government to dance to the tunes of the fish lobby and keep shifting its goalposts only shows a sheer lack of seriousness. Otherwise how can anyone explain the fact that between August 4, when the first announcement of a deadline for registration was made, and October 17, there were four deadlines that kept shifting giving the traders ample time to get themselves registered. Even after the lapse of the last deadline, the government was still unsure whether it should proceed with revocation of licenses.
The intentions of the government remain questionable because of such lapses and all the talk of testing imported fish by Export Inspection Council, setting up a state-of-the-art testing laboratory and a proposal of an international body being considered for monitoring fish are not convincing to the common man. Nothing is going to change if there are no genuine efforts focused on quality checks, keep aside political connections and lobbies.
