the goan I network
MARGAO
Which amongst the two agencies -- FDA or SGPDA -- is empowered to check the quality of fish in the wholesale fish market and reign in on the trucks carrying imported fish parked inside the market after business hours?
While the testing of the quality of fish, whether fresh or stale, may fall in the domain of the FDA, the TCP Minister on Monday dropped clear hints that the SGPDA may crack a whip against unauthorised parking of outstation trucks, laden with fish or not, in the wholesale fish market.
That the TCP Minister has mulled action in order to bring discipline in the wholesale fish market became evident when he is believed to have had a word with SGDPA Chairperson Dr Renuka Da Silva.
“I do not know how the FDA, which does not fall in my jurisdiction, will keep a close track on the quality of fish sold in the wholesale fish market. But, I think that if some outstation trucks carrying fish are found parked in the market with the sole reason to sell the fish the next day, this should stop immediately. I had a word with the SGPDA Chairperson Dr Renuka on the issue to find ways and means to bring about discipline in the wholesale fish market,” he added.
The TCP Minister made it clear that the wholesale fish market is not meant for parking of trucks and that too with fish stored for the next day. “This is totally unacceptable,” he said, adding that the authorities will also clear the wholesale fish market of outstation trucks parked along the road.
Goa’s lone wholesale fish market, spread across an area admeasuring 10,000 square meters, is owned and regulated by the SGPDA for over a decade. However, it had been found wanting in the
upkeep and maintenance, especially hygiene, in the wholesale fish market from day one.
It was only recently that the TCP Minister had set in motion an ambitious project to renovate the wholesale fish market at an estimated cost of Rs 12-odd crore.
