The dust on the lethal issue of formalin used to preserve fish imported from other states into Goa will not settle unless and until the import of fish from other states is totally and permanently banned. The government and the FDA appears to be concerned more about the protection and economic well being of the fish mafia lead by  Maulana Ibrahim rather than the health and well being of Goans. The idea of testing fish by renowned international agency is an eye wash and a farcical exercise devoid of any sanctity, intended to fool innocent Goans. And now the government wants to ‘restore the confidence’ of the people by engaging the EIC to conduct the test on the presence of formalin in fish imported from outside the state.

Goans are well aware of how the report on the presence of formalin in fish which tested positive in spot tests of 17 fish samples conducted in the wee hours of July 12, 2018 suddenly in the evening turned into a report which stated that the presence of formalin in fish is within ‘permissible limits’. The FDA even had the audacity to proclaim that the fish with formalin within the so called ‘permissible limits’ is absolutely safe for consumption. The government and the FDA however till today has failed to explain what it means by ‘permissible limits’. The FDA with the active support of a few elected representatives at the helm of affairs by hook or by crook is bent on to protect the earnings of the fish mafia at the cost of lives of innocent Goans perhaps because these elected representatives also have a share in the earnings of the fish mafia. 

Experts and scientists in the field like Dr Joe D’Souza retired Head of the Department of Microbiology Goa University have clearly beyond any iota of doubt confirmed that there is nothing called permissible limits as far as formalin in fish is concerned which the government and the FDA has not disagreed. It is not understood from where the FDA and the Government has discovered the concept of ‘permissible limits’.

Further, not only the fish but also the ice from the outstation trucks tested positive while the ice from local fish vendors tested negative, lending credence to the effectiveness and accuracy of the test. The upright, sincere and honest FDA officer who has been refusing to bow down to the pressures of the Director of FDA and the elected representative is now targeted and harassed to such an extent that she had no other option but to approach the Human Rights Commission with her complaint. This is the reward the government hands over to its sincere and honest officers.

The intrinsic question which Goans are asking the Government is that, why no action has been taken till date against those who are responsible for this criminal act? Why the government is reluctant to stop the import of fish from outside the state? The government has acted as if nothing has happened and the culprits are not only let scot free but protected and patronised by the government. Long live the Goa government.