the goan I network
MARGAO
When will the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) office in South Goa finally become a reality? And, whether the office will be only administrative in nature or will be manned by technical officials equipped with testing facilities for prompt action against unscrupulous traders playing with the health of the citizens.
Six years after the previous government had first unveiled its plans to set up the FDA district office in South Goa, the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) is bracing up to open tenders for the work on furnishing the FDA office in the old district Collectorate building, Margao.
While the FDA Director Jyoti Sardesai was unavailable for comment on the nature of work the district office will carry out, a GSIDC official said the agency has been entrusted with the job of furnishing the office in the Old Collectorate to house the administrative block. “We do not think the district office will house the testing facilities as the government has gone in for a state-of-the-art FDA lab at Bambolim,” the GSIDC official informed.
He pointed out that the GSIDC has tendered work on the furnishing of the FDA office at the old Collectorate building at a cost of Rs 89 lakh. “We have received some bids, which will be opened in the coming week,” the official said.
Saying that the office furnishing work should get over within three months, the official maintained that the office should be ready by January 2019 “ six years after the previous government had given the nod for the district FDA office.
Questions are raised whether the district office, to be headed by a deputy Director, will start functioning from January 2019 since the actual operation of the office is also dependent on the availability of manpower.
It was in the year 2013 that the previous government had resolved to set up a FDA branch in South Goa. The proposal, however, dragged on for the last six years for reasons best known to the powers that be.
The demand for a FDA South district office came to the fore again in July last after a raid conducted by FDA officials led by senior officer Iva Fernandes at the wholesale fish market, Margao revealed that fish imported from outside the State was laced with formalin.
The incident had triggered a huge demand for a permanent FDA office in South, with citizens and members of the Civil Society demanded that the FDA should not only test fish, but also fruits and vegetables imported into the commercial capital from across the border, with reports doing the rounds that the fruits are artificially ripened with chemicals.
A fortnight now, but PDA yet to
receive formalin testing kits
MARGAO: It will be a fortnight now since Health Minister Vishwajit Rane, during his visit to the SGPDA retail fish market, had promised to make available formalin testing kits to the PDA for random testing of the fish sold in the market.
Inquiries by The Goan with the SGPDA has revealed that the promised formalin testing kits are yet to reach the PDA office till date, with the PDA left with no option than to depend on FDA’s random checking of fish in both the wholesale and retail fish markets.
SGPDA Member Secretary Ashok Kumar when contacted by The Goan on Friday informed that the PDA has not received any formalin testing kits from the FDA or the Health department till date. “I have inquired with the PDA staff and they have said that no formalin testing kits have been received by the office till date,” Ashok Kumar said.
Both the PDA member secretary and the SGPDA Chairperson Dr Renuka Da Silva had made a plea to the Health Minister to send the formalin testing kits to the PDA for random testing in the two markets. The Health Minister had not only promised to send the kits, but has assured to impart necessary training of the SGPDA staff to conduct the tests, but in vain.
