Call for wholesale fish market to Goan traders

the goan I network

MARGAO

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA Churchill  Alemao on Monday demanded checking of every fish carrying truck into the  wholesale fish market for formalin, even as he called for opening of  the wholesale fish market for Goan entrepreneurs to do business.

Saying that the president of Wholesale Fish Market  Association, M Ibrahim is controlling the fish market, the Benaulim MLA  said the government should end the monopoly in the market by allowing  Goans to enter into the business.

Addressing the media in the presence of Colva panch Menino  Fernandes and Filomena Barretto, Churchill said no truck transporting fish  from outside the State should be allowed entry into the wholesale fish market unless certified by the Food and Drugs Administration. “There is panic  amongst the fish loving Goans about the quality of fish offered for sale  in the wholesale fish market after the FDA had tested positive fish-laced with formalin. It is now the responsibility of the government to  ensure that each and every truck carrying fish is allowed entry into the  market after being checked by the FDA,” he demanded.  

Saying that he had asked then Chief Minister Digambar  Kamat to take steps to bring control in the wholesale fish market so  that Goans get quality fish, Churchill recalled how Ibrahim was sent to  campaign against him in Navelim in the 2012 Assembly election.

He made an appeal to Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar  as well as TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai to allow Goans to do business in  the wholesale fish market. “Today, the wholesale fish market is  controlled by 95 per cent persons hailing from outside the State. Goans  have no place in the wholesale fish market. Those who are not registered  with the Ibrahim-led Association are not allowed to do business in the  market,” Churchill said, making it clear that Goans should face no  obstacles to trade in the wholesale fish business. 

“Just because there  are no Goans in the market, the price is manipulated to suit the  interest of the unscrupulous wholesalers,” he said, while appealing to  the government to allow entry of local people in the wholesale fish  business.