PANJIM: Health Minister Vishwajit Rane on Tuesday announced that the government may relax the fish import ban for small fishermen, operating within 60kms of the Goa border.
“We have to go ahead only after putting all the quality checks in place. The person who is catching fish with canoes within 60 kms of Goa might be given relief. We are working on the mechanism for the same,” Rane said.
Stating that at the same time, the government will have to be cautious of its ill effect, Rane said, “We need to be careful, as we don’t want traders to take advantage of the relaxation and illegally bring in fish.”
Several delegations of MLAs from Maharashtra and Karnataka, along with fish traders, had met Rane requesting that the ban be lifted pointing out that it has affected small fishermen. Rane had, however, refused to reconsider diluting the ban, making it compulsory for wholesale fish traders to comply with FDA guidelines.
The Minister also said that the government is working to ensure that quality testing modalities are in place at the earliest. “At the earliest, we should have checking modality in place so that the people’s confidence is maintained. We are a tourism State; we need to look at the things from a different angle. We need to build people’s confidence in fish,” Rane said.
