THE GOAN NETWORK
MARGAO: Has the South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA) relaxed its condition that no fish transporting vehicles will be allowed to park inside the wholesale fish market after business hours?
No, says SGPDA Member Secretary Ashok Kumar. However, neither the SGPDA Member Secretary nor other PDA officials could explain and justify the presence of fleet of fish transporting vehicles inside the market.
The SGPDA Member secretary only said that he would ask PDA official Paul Gomes to inspect the market and file a report.
When questioned whether the PDA is facing any issue, political or otherwise, to crack a whip against the wholesalers violating the condition, Ashok Kumar said the PDA has no wherewithal or machinery to enforce the condition imposed by the PDA while granting permission to the fish agents to conduct business in the market.
Take note, that the vehicles transporting fish into the state from across the border have been parking their vehicles inside the wholesale fish market like in the past.
While opening the wholesale fish market for fish imported from outside the state in December last, the SGPDA had issued the permission to the wholesale fish owners with a host of conditions, including the condition that no insulated or other fish transporting vehicles should be parked inside the market after 10 am every day.
The PDA had apparently imposed the condition on grounds that the unsold fish on a particular day is stored in the vehicles and sold the next day. Given that the PDA had no expertise to test the quality of fish sold in the market, the Planning body had imposed the condition banning parking of vehicles inside the market after business hours to ensure that unsold fish is not stored in the market and sold the next day.
