the goan I network
MARGAO
With the wholesale fish vendors knocking the doors of the Margao Municipal Council for trade licence in order to obtain certification from the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), all eyes are focused on the civic body as the administrative is apparently treading a cautious path given the sensitive nature of the trade in question post-formalin in fish controversy.
That caution is the catch word in the corridors of the Margao Municipal Council was evident by the fact that officials in the know said the applications moved by the wholesale fish agents have raised a host of questions on the very trade carried out at the wholesale fish market owned by the South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA).
Questions are raised in the civic body whether the wholesale fish market qualify as vendors or fish traders as per the Municipal laws in force. That’s not all. Whether the civic body can issue these wholesale fish agents the trade licence when they are not carrying out the trade in a closed premise or whether they fall in the category of vendors, given that they are doing the business in a land owned by an independent Authority such as the SGPDA.
Questions have also come to the fore whether these fish agents, whose turnover is believed to be running into lakhs of rupees, if not crores, on any given day, can be equated with ordinary vendors such as the fruit or vegetable vendors doing business in the commercial capital upon the payment of sopo tax.
Going by the cautious approach adopted by the Municipal officials, The Goan understands that the administration is unlikely to take any call in haste. Instead, the issue may be left for the City Fathers to deliberate and take an appropriate call at the next Council meeting scheduled on November 9, indicating that the civic body is unlikely to issue the trade licences for the 33 or 38 wholesale fish vendors before the meeting.
When The Goan called up the Chief Officer Siddivinayak Naik to shed light on the applications made by the wholesale fish agents, which have been lying pending with the civic body for a month now, he made it clear that his office will not rush with the issuance of the trade licences to the agents.
“After discussing the issue with my officers, I think that a number of departments may be involved in the process before the civic body can consider issuing the trade licence to these agents. The agents may be required to submit documents from other departments. The Municipality will not act in a haste,”
Naik said.
Making it clear that trade and vending are two different things, Naik said that the civic body will have to first categorise the fish agents, whether they fall in the category of vendors or traders. In this connection, the Chief Officer said the fish agents may have to obtain documents from other departments before the civic body takes cognizance of their applications. “The Council is meeting on November 9. Let the Council take a final call on the applications moved by
the fish agents. I will place all the details before the Council,” he added.
