MARGAO
Fisheries Minister Filipe Neri Rodrigues has said the government is waiting for the South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA) to take an early call on the development of the wholesale fish market with central funds.
He further said a tentative proposal for the development of the wholesale fish market has been submitted to the Central Fisheries Board, even as he hoped that the SGPDA will take a favorable decision at the earliest.
Giving details of the project, Filipe Neri said Union Fisheries Minister Giriraj Singh has approved Rs 50 crore funding for the development of the wholesale fish market on a 60:40 cost basis. “Based on Singh’s green signal, we have sent a tentative proposal to the Union Fisheries Ministry to take up the development of Goa’s wholesale fish market, which will also include a cold storage facility,” he said and added the ball is in the court of the SGPDA to take a call on the proposal.
When his attention was drawn to the apprehensions raised by the SGPDA members that the PDA will lose the land ownership rights if the market is handed over to the Fisheries Department, the Minister said all these issues can be sorted out by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the SGPDA and the department, wherein the ownership rights continue to vest with the SGPDA.
