the goan I network
MARGAO
Does the fisheries department understand the meaning of Swachh mission and sanitation? Has the Fisheries Director Vinesh Arlenkar set his foot on the dengue-hit Cutbona jetty since he took over the department some months ago? Why is the department dragging its feet on providing mobile toilets at the fishing jetty, leave alone building a 50-seater toilet block?
These and other questions came to the fore at the special gram sabha of Velim Panchayat held on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, with the fisheries director coming under the scanner of the agitated members for the ills plaguing the fishing jetty.
An agitated gram sabha member even went to the extent of suggesting that the panchayat or any other body file a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the High Court to make the fisheries directorate accountable for the sorry state of affairs at the Cutbona fishing jetty hit by dengue.
Members were agitated when the panchayat body as well as the health officials maintained that the fisheries department has not acted despite correspondence and several reminders.
Village Sarpanch Savio D’Silva replied to the members that the panchayat had sent several reminders to the fisheries director to act, but in vain. He said the Fisheries department is now all the more accountable since the department has taken over the Cutbona fishing jetty since the beginning of the new fishing season.
Savio, who is the president of the Cutbona Boat Owners Union, further said that the fishing jetty is not even cleaned by the fisheries department on a daily basis, raising questions about the cleanliness in and around the jetty when dengue has raised its ugly head once again.
Gram sabha members took exception to the attitude of the fisheries department despite the fact that four cases of dengue were found in and around the jetty. Members demanded to know whether the fisheries department has any responsibility to clear the breeding sites around the jetty, which were identified by the health officials during a survey of the jetty last month.
On the sanitation month, members demanded to know whether the fisheries department can abdicate its responsibility in providing sanitation facilities for the 3000-odd migrant workforce employed on the fishing vessels operating from the Cutbona fishing jetty.
The sarpanch clarified that leave aside the 50-seater toilet block proposed by the fisheries department, not even a couple of mobile toilets have been made available by the fisheries department till date at the jetty.
