MARGAO
Goa Forward Party President Vijai Sardesai has condemned the Goa government and the Department of Fisheries for their reluctance to explicitly state “Konkani” as the language requirement in the Recruitment Rules for the appointment of Sagar Mitras in the State.
Sardesai has demanded that the Recruitment Rules be revised to list proficiency in Konkani language as a mandatory requirement and prepare a reservation roster so that young men and women from backward communities and local fishing villages can be eligible for these jobs.
The advertisement for the 24 Sagar Mitra posts stated the candidates “should have effective communication skills in “local language” and should be “preferably a local”. “Not only is this disrespect to Konkani as a language, this also gives sufficient ambiguity for the government to hire people from other states to these posts,” he said, while pointing out that the Fisheries Departments of other states have been emphatic in asserting their State’s language as a mandatory criterion for recruitment.
“The Tamil Nadu government has stated the candidates’ eligibility criterion as “who has effective communication skills in Tamil”; The Karnataka government went further and issued the entire notice in Kannada leaving no doubt over their intentions,” he said.
Sardesai added: “Also, the other States have even stipulated that the candidate must be a local of the village, neighbouring village or at least the district as the Sagar Mitra, and have sought declarations from the candidates that they must be willing to stay in the village they will be working in. This is to ensure that the Sagar Mitras can spend an extensive amount of time in the fishing villages.
He said if candidates are selected from Sanquelim, there is little guarantee that these Sagar Mitras will be able to reach the fishing villages hours before dawn when the fisherfolk begin their work. This is especially important during extreme weather conditions when Sagar Mitras are expected, at any time during the day or night, to disseminate information on weather, natural calamities and potential fishing zones,” said Sardesai.
