MARGAO
Agriculture Minister Vijai Sardesai has on Tuesday directed the Agriculture officials to come out with suggestions to strengthen and lend more teeth to the Goa Fruit and Ornamental Plant Nurseries (Regulation) Act, 1995 so that the Goa Act becomes a model law in the entire country.
However, till the officials come out with suggestions to amend the Goa Fruit and Oornamental Plant Nurseries (Regulation) Act, 1995, it has been decided to issue notice to all registered nurseries to put up a board displaying the licence and the photograph of the owners for verification.
The meeting called by the Agriculture Minister at the South District Collectorate was attended by Agriculture Director Nelson Figueiredo, other department officials, Additional Collector, South Agnelo Fernandes, Sub-Divisional Police Officers of South Goa district and GOACAN Convenor Roland Martins and others.
After the meeting, the Agriculture minister told the media that the prevailing Goa Fruit and Ornamental Plant Nurseries (Regulation) Act, 1995 is toothless without any provision for punitive action. He, however, said that the Agriculture officials have an opportunity to rectify the loopholes in the Act so that the Act is Amended to meet the requirements and become a model law for the entire country.
“We have to protect our citizens from being cheated by unscrupulous elements. This has to stop. I have told officials to sit with the police officials and find out how best miscreants are stopped from entering villages under the guise of selling ornamental plants,”
Sardesai said.
He also told the Agriculture officials to study the Cuncolim case and come out with a solution so that people do not convert their land under the guise of running nurseries.
