MARGAO Has the South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA) toned down the number of conditions imposed on the wholesale fish traders while granting permission for the use of the wholesale fish market? Amongst other conditions, the SGPDA had mandated the wholesale fish traders to remove all the fish transporting trucks from the market after 10 am. Even PDA officials say this condition is being violated with impunity by the traders, even as the PDA top brass continue to turn a blind eye to the violation. Saturday evening saw a couple of fish transporting trucks parked inside the wholesale fish market. A PDA official, who was travelling on the Margao-Seraulim road, took pictures of the trucks parked inside the wholesale fish market, throwing up questions whether the vehicles have come from across the border or whether these trucks had entered the state a day ago and were still in the market with the unsold fish. PDA officials in private pointed out that while the planning body had no wherewithal to rein in on the violators every day, they have expressed surprise why the responsibility of getting the trucks out of the wholesale fish market is not entrusted to the sopo contractor or the Fatorda police. The PDA official, who took pictures of the trucks said, “Normally, vehicles importing fish from other states enter the state past midnight or in the wee hours of the day. We fail to understand how the fish trucks were found parked inside the wholesale fish market on Saturday evening,” remarked the PDA official.
