MARGAO
Hazard a guess how many mobile toilets have been installed at the Cutbona fishing jetty to beef up sanitation facilities at the jetty in addition to the lone Sulabh toilet and two eco-toilets located in the fisheries complex?
Well, it’s nearly a month-and-half since the Fisheries department had addressed letters to the Fisheries cooperative societies and associations operating from the Cutbona jetty to provide toilet facilities for their crew and maintaining of proper hygiene.
At that time, it was perceived that the Fisheries Director’s letter is an attempt to abdicate its responsibility and to pass on the buck to the fisheries societies and associations operating from the Cutbona fishing jetty. For, similar directions issued by the Fisheries department in the past had gone abegging, as a result of which sanitation amenities for the thousands of migrant workers descending at the Cutbona jetty are virtually thrown to the winds. In fact, the department’s correspondence has not changed the ground reality at the jetty.
These questions assume significance and comes against the backdrop of reports that migrant labour from the states of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha have descended at the jetty to work on the fishing vessels operating from the Cutbona fishing jetty.
So far, the lone Sulabh toilet block and two eco-toilets installed in the fisheries complex are all the sanitation facilities provided by the Department of Fisheries at the fisheries complex till date.
Incidentally, the 50-seater toilet block proposed by the Fisheries department over half a decade ago is yet to take shape for want of a Sewage Treatment Plant in the fisheries complex.
Former Cutbona Boat Owners Union President, Cyprian Cardozo said the promised mobile toilets proposed by the Fisheries department at the Cutbona are yet to take shape.
Velim Sarpanch Savio D’Silva, who is also a boat owner, pointed out that the Fisheries department is not at all serious in putting the sanitation amenities at the Cutbona jetty. “We fail to understand why the Fisheries Director is asking the fisheries societies and associations to install the mobile toilets when the jetty belongs to the Fisheries department,” he said.
Moreover, Savio further pointed out that the Fisheries department collects fees from the fish agents operating at the Cutbona jetty, adding that the department should spend the amount on the mobile toilets and for its maintenance instead of asking the fisheries societies and associations to provide the sanitation facility.
The Velim Sarpanch also questioned the statement made by Fisheries officials over the delay in putting the 50-seater toilet block and the STP in place. “The Velim panchayat has always cooperated with the Fisheries department by issuing the required NOCs. Instead of blaming others, the department should get all the stakeholders and resolve the long standing sanitation issue staring at the Cutbona jetty,” the sarpanch demanded.
