MARGAO
Perhaps for the first time after the outbreak of dengue and cholera at the Cutbona fishing jetty, Fisheries Minister Nilkanth Halarnkar made his presence felt at a meeting called by Salcete lone Minister Alexio Sequeira at the South district Collectorate to take a further review of the measures implemented at the Cutbona jetty.
The Fisheries Minister sought to blame the fishing stakeholders for the prevailing situation at Cutbona, be it the anchoring of old and used vessels at the jetty, or the delay in the construction of the training wall at the mouth of river Sal et al.
On the outbreak, Halarnkar said the Fisheries department has been writing to the Health centres to screen the workers before the start of the new fishing season, adding that the workers reporting to the jetty were subjected to screening.
The Minister was not willing to accept the negligence of the Cutbona jetty, resulting in the outbreak of dengue and cholera amongst the migrant workers. He also could not come out with any satisfactory explanation as to why the proposal for the 50-seater toilet block at Cutbona has not become a reality till date when the jetty is the home for thousands of migrant workers.
Conceding that the 222-metre new jetty at Cutbona was built way back in 2019, Harlankar said the jetty was not inaugurated for a simple reason there were differences amongst the fishing stakeholders. He also blamed the fishing stakeholders behind the anchoring of the old and unused fishing vessels at the Cutbona jetty. “The jetty was built for the stakeholders in 2019. It is not the intention of the government to hurt anyone. The inauguration was delayed because of the differences amongst the stakeholders. Similarly, the stakeholders themselves have anchored the old vessels at the jetty, knowing well the unused boats are obstructing other boats,” he said.
The Fisheries Minister, however, hastened to add that since Chief Minister Pramod Sawant have called for the removal of the old vessels from the jetty and the inauguration of the new jetty, the same will be done by the department.
When his attention was drawn to criticism that the Fisheries Minister has not visited the Cutbona jetty after the cholera outbreak claimed the lives of five migrant workers, Harlankar said he was busy with the Ganesh Chaturthi festival. “Chief Minister Pramod Sawant called me before going to Cutbona. Since I could not come due to the religious program, the CM took Minister Alexio Sequeira to the jetty,” he said.
