MARGAO
On the second floor of the old South Goa Collectorate building, visitors often come across an office with a board hanging just above the entrance door "Directorate of Food and Drugs Administration, South Goa sub-office".
A stranger to the building may be tempted to believe that the FDA’s South Goa sub-office is functioning from the old Collectorate building. Regular visitors, however, would point out that the FDA sub-office is yet to start functioning at the old Collectorate building.
A look through the glass would reveal that the office has been refurbished with the best of furniture. And, inquiries by The Goan has revealed that the government, through the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC), had spent a whopping rupees one crore to furnish the FDA sub-office with state-of-the-art furniture to meet the requirements.
Sadly, the FDA sub-office is yet to function to date. Even the three year Defects Liability Period has lapsed since the GSIDC had furnished the premises.
This has thrown up a moot question -- 'Why is the government dragging its feet to inaugurate the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) office for South Goa when the refurbished space in the old South Goa Collectorate building is awaiting occupation for the last three years?'
The GSIDC general manager, Projects, Jude Carvalho told The Goan that the Defects Liability Period has now lapsed, indicating that the office was furnished and ready in all respects around three years ago, throwing up another question -- 'What has prevented the FDA to start the sub-office in these last three years?'
Consider this. Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) Director Jyoti Sardesai has been maintaining silence on the matter. Outgoing Health Minister Vishwajit Rane, during his visit to Salcete, had parried questions on the commissioning of the FDA sub-office.
When The Goan had approached the FDA director on WhatsApp to shed light on the status of the FDA sub-office, she only replied saying the sub-office will be opened soon.
It’s not known whether the two MLAs of Margao and Fatorda, Digambar Kamat and Vijai Sardesai respectively, had insisted on the early commissioning of the sub-office during their stint in office “ throwing up another question of whether Pramod Sawant in his second stint as Chief Minister and his new Health Minister will ensure that the long-delayed FDA sub-office finally starts functioning in South Goa.
Sources in the know informed that senior GSIDC officials had in the past called on the Health Minister to start the sub-office since the government has invested a huge amount in state-of-the-art furnishing.
A GSIDC official pointed out that it would not be possible to get the contractor to rectify the defects, if any, given that the Defects Liability period has already lapsed.
“The FDA ought to have occupied the office by now. This would have helped us to know whether the equipment installed in the office were of quality or not”, added another official.
The FDA sub-office was proposed by the Manohar Parrikar government in around 2013 for the benefit of people from South Goa, who had to travel to North Goa for official work with the agency. The proposal, however, dragged on for the last nine years for reasons best known to the FDA officials and successive Health Ministers.
Inaugurated in 2018, no sign of food testing lab
MARGAO:
Will a full-fledged food testing laboratory to test the food, fish, fruits and vegetables ever become a reality in the state’s commercial capital and ensure the food consumed by Madgavkars in particulars and Saxttikars, in general, is free from chemicals and artificial ripening agents?
Inaugurated in 2018 by former Union Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu, the so-called state-of-the-art food testing laboratory was sanctioned for Goa and Margao by the Union Minister against the backdrop of the raging 'formalin fish' controversy.
Sadly, the laboratory has existed only on paper since then. Issues concerning land and space seemed to have derailed plans to have the food testing laboratory by the Export Inspection Agency (EIA) and Quality Council of India (QCI).
While the laboratory was supposed to come up immediately after the inauguration, questions over the location of the lab first kept the proposal on hold before the SGPDA decided against making the land available for the lab on the plea that it was proposed to test only the food items meant for export.
Whether Pramod Sawant in his new stint as Chief Minister will ensure the laboratory becomes a reality or whether the MLAs of Margao and Fatorda, Digambar Kamat and Vijai Sardesai respectively, will pursue the lab with the BJP-government, remains to be seen.
