TEAM HERALD
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MARGAO: Making a plea to the South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA) not to impose any condition to stop them from participating in the wholesale fish market sopo tender, boat owners from Cutbona and Vasco on Monday warned that they will be forced to agitate if the PDA fails to drop the three-year experience clause.
SGPDA Chairman, MLA Rajan Naik, however, said that since the PDA has already taken a decision on the three years experience condition, the same will remain untouched. He said any person having experience of sopo collection in the village markets can also apply for the sopo tender.
A joint delegation of the Cutbona boat owners led by President Seby Cardozo and Vasco owners headed by Sydney Furtado called on SGPDA Chairman MLA Rajan Naik and handed over a memorandum not to impose the three-year experience clause in the tender. They contended that the illegal, unjustified and unconstitutional clause in the sopo tender would stop the boat owners from participating in the tender bid.
Seby Cardozo said the boat owners wanted to participate in the bid to try and bring about a turnaround in the messy wholesale fish market. “We have learnt that there is a sinister move on behalf of the government to disqualify the Cutbona boat owners by putting a clause/condition that only parties with three years experience are eligible to participate in the tender. This is injustice. We will be forced to come on the streets if justice is denied to us,” Seby warned.
President of Goa Fishing Boat Owners Association, Sydney Furtado sought the intervention of the government to mete out justice to the boat owners. “Earlier, they made an attempt to float two tenders and now they have put a clause to prevent us from participating in the bid. This is injustice,” Furtado said.
Vice-President of Cutbona Boat Owners Union Roosevelt Alemao said the boat owners would take stock of the situation if the PDA goes ahead with the tender without removing the experience clause. “The boat owners, traditional fishermen selling fish at the wholesale fish market are all united on this issue,” he asserted.
