MARGAO
DySP Raju Raut Desai along with Cuncolim PI Sahilesh Nagvenkar made their presence felt as the Cutbona Boat Owners Union led by president Savio D'Silva objected to the presence of a Karnataka-based fish agent at the jetty. His objection was hotly contested by the rival group headed by Seby Cardozo, who insisted that there cannot be a bar on any fishing agents buying fish from the jetty.
Savio told the media that only those fish agents, who have applied to the Union are permitted to procure fish from the vessels. We have received applications from 12 fish agents, who had been doing business at the jetty for a long time now. There's no application from BSF seeking permission to load fish at the jetty," Savio said.
As the claims and counter claims by the rival groups threatened to snowball into a law and order problem, the DySP along with the Cuncolim police rushed to Cutbona to bring the two warring groups to the negotiating table.
After much discussion at the Union office, it was finally decided that the Union led by Savio would allow the BSF fish agent to load fish only for today and would not be allowed at the jetty for the next eight days till the Union discusses the issue at its meeting.
Both Savio and Seby agreed to the terms of agreement arrived at the joint meeting, saying that the future course of action will be known only next Tuesday.
The Union president said that the Union has this time erected a gate at the entrance to the jetty to regulate parking, saying that fish transporting vehicles will be allowed at the jetty only at the time of loading.
