Team Herald

MAPUSA: Alleging scam in the Malim fishing jetty operations, the Porvorim Block Congress on Thursday claimed that jetty was illegally extended by constructing unauthorised structures without permission from government authorities. 

The Congress block said the jetty was meant primarily for the benefit of the people of Malim, Betim, Reis Magos, Salvador do Mundo, Ecoxim and Pomburpa however only the boat owners of Tiswadi were accommodated. Today locals from Bardez and Porvorim have been denied membership.

President of Porvorim Block Congress Committee, Adv Shankar Phadte alleged that the fishing mafia at Malim jetty is mismanaging the facilities at the jetty including the fish vending outlets, fuel pump, office spaces and sheds.

“The scam in the operation of Malim fishing jetty runs into crores of rupees and was exposed in 2015 by Goan fishermen. As a result of which they were targeted, harassed, displaced and ousted from their fishing outlets. The Malim jetty is managed by the Malim Fishermen Co-Operative Marketing Society which is allowing outsiders i.e. people from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to operate the businesses at the jetty which belongs to the Fisheries Department. The boat owners many of whom are Portuguese nationals and businessman from Panjim and Siridao are controlling the jetty and the illegal activities here. The business place is illegally sublet to migrants and the people in control of the jetty are involved in scams,” Phadte charged.

The Porvorim Block Congress condemns the hypocrisy of the Porvorim MLA Rohan Khaunte for failing to provide relief to the local fishermen whose livelihood was at stake for all these years when he was in the cabinet.

The Block claims that the MLA is responsible for the affairs at the jetty and the unfair treatment and harassment meted out to the local fishermen of Porvorim, Aldona and Saligao constituencies.

The Porvorim Block Congress alleged that the fishing jetty is now being illegally extended without permission from the GCZMA, Penha de Franca panchayat and other authorities and neither any environmental impact assessment is carried out.

Adv Phadte claimed that at the new jetty a huge toilet block of around 200 sq mts is being constructed along with huge terminal buildings.

“This construction is being carried out to benefit the casino lobby, commercial boating activities and not the local fishermen. There is a conspiracy on the part of the government to displace the local traditional occupants from the stretch ranging from the Malim jetty to the Britona riverside tourism complex. The local MLA is intentionally allowing the illegal extension of Malim jetty and widening of roads in the area without land acquisition to make infrastructure for the offshore casinos at the State’s expense and cost of the local fishermen,” Phadte alleged.