the goan I network
CANACONA
Activists on Wednesday raised doubts over the Quality Council of India (QCI) laboratory set up by the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) to check for formalin in fish brought into the State via the Polem check post.
When activists confronted an officer at the QCI lab, he refused to divulge the formalin test-reports conducted at the laboratory and locked himself inside the QCI cabin, claiming that he had verbal orders not to make the reports public.
In a midnight operation, some activists had kept close watch on arrival of fish-laden vehicles to the Goa border and noticed an officer claiming to be from the FDA picking up fish samples from the 2-3 fish containers placed on the top.
They claimed that fish was being checked only from boxes on the surface, without checking the remaining 25-30 fish boxes.
“What exactly is being done inside is not known to anyone. When we asked to see the reports, the technician present refused to divulge anything. How would people know if the fish is actually being checked for formalin or not? The officer was unwilling to show the test reports that he has conducted in the past,” said an activist Nishant Prabhugaonkar.
“We also noticed that most fish boxes being transported were not touched at all and vehicles are randomly being given safe passage to enter the State at the Polem border.”
When some more activists approached the QCI Lab officer to have a look at the lab tests on fish to trace for formalin presence, the officer flatly refused to do so, claiming that he had orders not to divulge the test results nor to speak to the public.
When pressed to show the order, the officer said he had received oral orders from his superiors. The activists then asked the officer for the phone number of his superior, but he refused to hand over the number.
The officer also refused to speak on camera and he ran into the laboratory, where he locked himself from the inside.
“We suspect something serious is happening in the name of the fish testing laboratory and there are attempts to provide a safe passage to formalin-laced fish into the Goan markets.”
“Checking of fish for formalin is being done in a hushed manners, away from public scrutiny. This has raised several doubts that Goenkars are being compelled to consume formalin-laced fish,” alleged Prabhugaonkar.
“We are sure there is formalin in the fish transported to the Goan market, otherwise there was no need to carry out the so-called formalin tests in a hushed manner,” Prabhugaonkar added.
