the goan I network
MARGAO
With none of the authorities maintaining a vigil on the arrival of fish via the Railways, city-based activists seized a consignment of shellfish, mostly ‘tisreos’ at the Margao railway platform on Friday evening that came from
Mangalore.
The activists demanded that Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s official machinery should be vigilant, saying they have information that fish trucks stop at the Goa-Karnataka border at Polem before fish finds its way in the local markets in small
vehicles.
They demanded that the authorities arrest the person who has brought the fish into the State when the State government has imposed a ban on the import of fish into the State.
The activists comprising of Nelson Fernandes, Ethel Lobo, Sanjeev Raiturcar, Piedade Noronha and Laurel Abranches and others descended at the Margao railway station at around 5 pm anticipating the arrival of fish from Mangalore by train. Their anticipation turned true after the Matsyagandha train chugged at the railway station when a consignment of seven bags containing ‘tisreos’ was unloaded on the platform.
The activists raised an uproar at the platform, inviting the attention of the Railway Protection Force to get to the person for whom the consignment was dispatched from Mangalore.
Nelson Fernandes told the media on the platform that the activists decided to descend at the railway station since they had harboured doubts over the efficacy of government agencies to crack a whip against the illegal import of fish into the State. “When there’s a ban on import of fish, the government authorities cannot sleep at home and allow import of fish by the Railways,” Nelson said.
Sanjeev Raiturkar demanded that the police arrest the person who was to receive the consignment and also the party which sent the ‘tisreos’.
Initially, the RPF and the Konkan Railway police passed on the buck on each on the registration of a FIR, with both the law enforcement agencies pushing the ball in each others court. Raiturcar later told the media that the RPF has agreed to register a FIR against the concerned person and conduct a panchanama.
He said the activists have told the RPF to destroy the consignment in the presence of the activists.
