VASCO
Reacting sharply to statements by Maulana Ibrahim that fishermen and boat owners must also have FDA licenses to bring fish to the Margao wholesale market, several fishing bodies in South Goa have threatened to act against Ibrahim and protest if the government does not take necessary action and expel him from the Margao wholesale market.
The fishing associations from Betul, Cutbona, Colva and other parts of South Goa along with Goa Fishing Boat Owners Association (GFBOA) and traditional fishermen associations were addressing a news conference in Vasco on Saturday. “Who has given Ibrahim the right to speak about us or ask our minister to resign? He is a trader and he controls the wholesale market. He must be thrown out of Margao wholesale market,” said GBOA President and former minister Jose Philip D’Souza, while speaking to reporters.
“We give fresh fish to the market and we have a plan on how to teach him a good lesson. He is just trying to cause confusion to get himself out of the mess he has been caught up in,” said D’Souza.
President of Old Cross Fishing Canoe Owners Society Cooperative Limited (OCFCSCL) Custodio D’Souza alleged that Ibrahim was a non-Goan trader making money at the cost of fishermen and demanded that he be banned from the wholesale fish market.
“I am a traditional Goan fishermen and he is just a trader who is making money at our cost. This migrant trader is now dictating terms to us and also demanding the health minister to resign, while all 40 MLAs are a silent witness.”
“He has challenged us and we will not remain quiet. He must remember that the market is in Goa and if ministers cannot teach him a lesson, we fishermen will do it,” he said.
