MARGAO
With Union Fisheries Minister Girija Singh mulling upgradation of Goa’s lone wholesale fish market in Margao under the Rs 400-crore central aid, the South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA) is not averse to the plan if the authority’s land interest is protected.
In fact, SGPDA Chairman Wilfred D’Sa said that the PDA is ready to ink a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Fisheries Department to ensure that the rights over the sprawling 10,000 square meters of land playing host to the wholesale fish market remains with the planning body.
During his three-day visit to the state, the Union Fisheries Minister had announced a Rs 400-crore package to boost the fisheries sector, including Rs 50 crore for the upgradation of the wholesale fish market.
In the past, the SGPDA had mulled handing over the wholesale fish market land to the Fisheries Department for development with funds from the Union Fisheries. The proposal, however, remained in the cold storage over doubts over the control of the wholesale fish market land once it is handed over to the Fisheries Department.
SGPDA Chairman D’Sa told The Goan on Tuesday he had a meeting with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Fisheries Minister Filipe Neri Rodrigues, wherein all issues pertaining to the wholesale fish market were deliberated and discussed. “At the meeting, it was decided that the SGPDA can ink an MoU with the Fisheries Department by listing the conditions, including the return of the wholesale fish market back to the PDA after the upgradation,” he said.
He added: “The SGPDA will have no objection to the handing over market to the Fisheries Department for upgradation under the central funds on condition the land continues to remain in possession of the Planning body”.
Sources said the SGPDA is anxious to retain control over the market land admeasuring 10,000 square meters since the land in question enjoys a 200 FAR in the Outline Development Plan for Margao. This implies that the PDA is free to develop and exploit the wholesale fish market land commercially in the future to enrich its coffers.
Acquired around two decades ago after the retail fish market was shifted from the old fish market behind the Margao Municipal Council building, the wholesale fish market had started functioning in the spacious land around 2003-04.
The State’s lone wholesale fish market has been craving for attention over the years with successive governments and the PDA only paying lip service to the upgradation plan, leaving the market to decay over the years for want of proper upkeep and maintenance.
