CANACONA
Doubts had been raised over the quality of fish arriving into the State following concerns of formalin-laced fish and now, doubts are being raised over the quality of tests to check the quality of fish at the Polem check post.
Fish consignments brought into Goa are to be tested at the Quality Council of India (QCI) laboratory at the Polem check post along Goa’s border with Karnataka.
When media persons went to the site, they noticed the driver/assistant of a fish vehicle from Odisha being asked to pick out a sample or small quantity of fish from a consignment (198 boxes) of Velli (silver belly fish) being transported and to hand it over along with the transporter’s challan to a QCI staffer, who came out of the QCI lab to conduct the tests.
They found out that neither the driver nor the assistant was allowed to enter the QCI lab, but the staffer later came out within 15-20 minutes along with the fish samples collected for testing and a QCI challan.
When reporters tried to ascertain the type of tests being conducted on the fish being transported into the State at this border, they were prevented from entering the QCI’s lab at Polem. QCI staff refused to provide any replies to the queries raised and instead asked them to contact the head office.
When the challan issued by QCI’s staff to the transporters was checked, it was observed that this challan did not provide details of tests conducted on the fish sample. The QCI challan mentioned the date/time, consignee, quantity, type of fish (sea/river), number of boxes/weight, name of fish transporter and consignment being transported (from where and to which market in Goa).
When attempts were made to question the QCI challan issued for the fish sample, one QCI staffer not only refused to divulge anything, but even directed the transporters to refrain from divulging anything to the media persons.
