PORVORIM
The Fisheries department closed the main gate of Malim jetty on Wednesday morning after two trawler owners, Avinash Shinde and Gauresh Salgaonkar, complained about activities on the premises of Mandovi Fisheries Cooperative Marketing Federation Ltd and that their fish had been wasted as the traders did not buy their catch.
When contacted, Director of Mandovi Fisheries Cooperative Marketing Federation Harshad Dhond told The Goan that acting on the complaint from the two trawler owners, the fisheries department affixed a notice on the main gate of the Malim jetty at 8 pm on Tuesday and closed the main gate on Wednesday morning.
“Trawler owners were quite disturbed over this action of the fisheries department as no intimation about this was given to the Society. Representatives of the traders and the trawler owners called on the Director of Fisheries and sought the reason for the closure of the main gate,” said Dhond.
“The Director of Fisheries mentioned that traders who buy the fish from the trawler owners should register with the Fisheries department on paying registration charges of Rs 20,000 and an annual fee of Rs 2,00,000.”
“Representatives of the Society informed the director that the Society is paying an annual rent of Rs 23,50,000 to the Directorate of Fisheries towards the usage of Malim jetty. If traders are also asked to pay annual rent, they will be forced to recover this money from the trawler owners only. This is not fair.”
“Hence, it was suggested to the Directorate of Fisheries that they can erect a Toll Naka at the jetty and charge nominal fees for every truck that leaves the Malim with fish. After discussing the matter with Fisheries Minister Nilkanth Halarnkar, a meeting has been convened on October 25 with the stakeholders to find a solution to this issue. After that, the main gate of the Malim Jetty was opened,” said Dhond.
