MARGAO
In the contempt petition No 3 of 2024, the High Court had on April 24, 2024 made a significant observation that the Court’s direction issued in the Public Interest Litigation in respect of the Malim jetty is applicable to all the jetties across Goa.
In fact, the Court had directed the Director of Fisheries to inspect the remaining jetties, including the dengue and cholera-hit Cutbona fishing jetty and comply with the recommendation pertaining to the joint inspection carried out in respect of the other jetties.
In furtherance to the Court’s directions, a joint inspection of the Cutbona fishing jetty had taken place at the Cutbona jetty in the last three months. In fact, a significant take away from the High Court’s order dated April 24, 2024 was that the Court has placed the responsibility on the Director of Fisheries to ensure that cleanliness and hygiene are maintained at the jetties.
In fact, the Court was categorical in saying that if any works are required to be done by the local village Panchayat or the fishermen societies, it will be for the Director of Fisheries to coordinate with these agencies and ensure that hygienic cleanliness standards are observed and maintained at all times.
Against this backdrop, the Fisheries Director and the department may have to answer a host of questions -- has hygiene and sanitation changed for the better at the Cutbona fishing jetty, post-joint inspection of the jetty conducted by the Fisheries department in the last three months? Have the Fisheries department removed any of the old and scrap vessels anchored at the Cutbona fishing jetty, which has now become the breeding ground for vector borne diseases? Have the gaddas/kiosks and establishments located on the landward side of the fishing jetty obtained the necessary permissions from the FDA and the local village panchayat to carry out the business activities? Have the Fisheries department taken cognisance of the parking by dozens of fish transporting vessels all along the jetty road, causing congestion and traffic bottlenecks along the road?
These and other questions have come to the fore as a joint inspection conducted by Deputy Collector, Margao Ganesh Barve and SDM, Ramesh Gaonkar have only revealed there’s no turnaround at the Cutbona fishing jetty between the joint inspection carried out by the Fisheries department and the deputy Collector-headed inspections held on Friday last.
Deputy Collector Ganesh Barve was candid in admitting that all is not well at the Cutbona jetty, but will the joint inspection spur the Fisheries director to stem the rot by clearing scrap vessels anchored at the jetty; or tone up the sanitation amenities provided to the thousands of migrant workers and initiate action against parking on the jetty road.
