the goan I network
MARGAO
Setting in motion the process for the resumption of wholesale fish trade from across the borders in Goa’s wholesale fish market at Margao, the South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA) on Friday said the Authority is writing to the Wholesale Fish Market Association to give an undertaking to the Authority that the traders will comply with the rules and guidelines before being allowed to carry out the trade in the market.
The SGPDA, however, made it clear to the traders that fish trucks, whether heavy or light vehicles, will be strictly barred from parking inside the wholesale fish market after business hours at 10 am.
SGPDA Member Secretary Ashok Kumar said that the Authority is writing to the wholesale fish market association as well as the Goa Fishing Boats Association that the traders can assembly and carry out business in the wholesale fish market provided they comply with the all the guidelines laid down by the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA).
“We have decided to grant permission to the wholesale fish association to carry on the trade at the designated wholesale fish market on two conditions. First, the fish traders are strictly barred from parking their vehicles inside the wholesale fish market after business hours at 10 am. And, secondly, the traders give an undertaking that they will comply with all the rules in force and the guidelines of the FDA,” Ashok Kumar told The Goan on Friday.
To a question, the PDA Member Secretary pointed out that while the SGPDA will grant the traders the permission to assemble and carry out the trade in the wholesale fish market, the permission is subject to the conditions that they comply with the FDA guidelines.
To another question, Ashok Kumar said the wholesale fish traders will have to file the undertaking in a prescribed format prepared by the PDA.
The PDA’s decision to grant permission to the wholesale fish traders to do business in the wholesale market with conditions has come exactly a month after the wholesale fish traders had stopped the import of fish from across the State borders after the FDA unveiled a host of guidelines for the importers to comply before allowing them entry into the State.
The guidelines set in the Public Health Department’s August 2 circular mandates the fish traders to transport the fish in insulated vehicles from across the State borders and to obtain the NOCs/trade licence from the concerned authorities before being allowed to operate in the wholesale fish market.
