Goemkapronn desk
VASCO: Former Minister and All Goa Fishing Boat Owners Association president Jose Philip DSouza has made a unique demand with the Government to allow fishing operations from berth no 11 of the Mormugao Port Authority (MPA).
Speaking to the media, D’Souza said that the Government has only been giving multiple assurances to repair the dilapidated Kharewado fishing Jetty but in reality, nothing has been done.
“We have made several requests and even submitted memorandums to the Government to repair our dilapidated jetty. However the Government has chosen to ignore us and while the Government has spent crores of rupees to develop several other jetties, we are left with the dilapidated jetty where our boats cannot be docked. The jetty has caused more concerns than relief because the jetty is almost corroded. We also had an incident where one person fell off the jetty and drowned and another case where a worker got his leg trapped in the rusted jetty and was grievously injured,” said D’Souza.
“The fishing season is about to start and we cannot accommodate around 250 boats on the dilapidated jetty. The situation is such that we cannot risk the lives of our workers and members because there could be a tragedy anytime soon. The vehicles arriving at the jetty could sink and we are frustrated with the meaningless assurances made by ministers including CM Dr Pramod Sawant, Former CM Late Manohar Parrikar and Union Minister Purshottam Rupala. We now demand that we be allowed to operate from berth No 11 of the MPA which is adjoining our Jetty. The Government has not done anything despite us giving them NOC from MPA and we want to operate from Berth no 11 till such time that our Jetty is not repaired. Let the Government take its own time and repair the jetty as and when they want but till such time, they must give us the adjoining berth no 11 of MPA to operate our fishing business, especially since the season will start from 1st August,” said D’Souza.
