the goan I network
MAPUSA
The government is working to amend the Plant Nurseries Act in a bid to control the nursery business in the state and to check the activity of sales outlets sprouting along national highways.
As a first step in that direction, the Directorate of Agriculture has recently issued a public notice calling all licensed nurseries in the state to display a signboard with the name of the nursery, address, owner’s name, license number, date of issue and validity date at the premises.
The notice was published on February 1 and nursery owners have been given 15 days to comply.
Further, the owners have been directed to submit a photocopy of the installed signboard to the Zonal Agricultural Officer of the taluka, where the license was issued.
“There is exponential rise in nurseries across the state, with little or no control over its business. The Goa Fruit and Ornamental Plant Nurseries (Regulation) Act 1995 needs to be revisited to make enforcement of rules more stringent. The recent notice to nursery owners is the first step in that direction,” explained Satej Kamat, Assistant Director of Agriculture.
“As per the notice, only a licensed member will be able to display it. Automatically, people who do not have a license either will have to apply for one or they are as good as illegal,” Kamat added.
He said the issue of enforcement needed to be tackled and the first step was to identify who was doing legal business.
Kamat said the number of nurseries has increased tremendously in recent years and there was need to put the plant sale business through such outlets in order.
“Ten years back, there were not many nurseries. Now, everyone has realised Goa as a tourism destination has enormous scope. Beautification is important. Landscape business has also increased,” he said.
The agriculture department in its notice has also warned that under the Plant Nursery Act, sale of plants through handcarts was prohibited and liable for confiscation.
