the goan I network
MARGAO
Inaugurated with much fanfare on January 21 last, the world-class food testing lab and a certifying authority to be set up by the Export Inspection Council will not see light of the day at least for the next one year.
Reason: The office space for the laboratory, which was inaugurated at the hands of former Union Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu in the presence of TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai and Health Minister Vishwajit Rane, in the SGPDA complex does not conform to the CPWD specifications.
Left with no spacious space in the PDA complex to house the lab, the government is now thinking of setting up the food testing laboratory at the proposed state-of-the-art wholesale fish market complex.
The Export Inspection Council is believed to have written a letter to the SGPDA expressing its inability to set up the lab and the office at the PDA premises, saying the office space allocated by the PDA will have to be razed down to make way for the lab.
When the media posed a question to the TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai to shed light on the delay in setting up the food laboratory, he said the government is now thinking of setting up the lab at the wholesale fish market. “The GSIDC is planning a modern wholesale fish market at the existing market ground. We have decided to allocate space for the export agency to set up the lab in the wholesale fish market,” he said, adding that the objective of testing fish and other food items will be achieved if the lab comes up in the wholesale fish market.
To a question, Sardesai conceded that it may take at least one year to build the modern wholesale fish market, adding that the lab may take a year to take shape in the fish market. “The GSIDC has also finalized the proposal and the tender will be floated soon to build the wholesale fish market,” he said, adding that work on the food testing lab will also start simultaneously in the wholesale fish market.
