Team Herald
CANACONA: About 300 fish traders from Karnataka assembled at Mazali checkpost and denied entry to three vehicles carrying fish from Goa to Karnataka on Saturday. The group had gathered at 10 am finally dispersed at 1 pm.
Sources at Sadashivgad police station said that a determined group of fish merchants from the coastal areas of Karnataka got together at Mazali at about 10.00 am on Saturday.
They were irked by the recent notification by government of Goa that fish carrying vehicles without insulation and FDA registration will not be allowed entry in to Goan territory; the irate group forcefully prevented and denied entry to three fish carrying trucks from entering Karnataka.
All the three trucks returned back to Goa eventually. To avoid any untoward incident and to maintain peace a large platoon of police personnel drawn from Goa police were stationed on the Goa border at Polem.
A witness to the happenings said that the fish merchants and members of fish traders association from Karwar, Ankola, Kundapur, Hanavar, Udipi and Mangalore were agitating at the Mazali checkpost to highlight their demand for allowing entry to the vehicles bringing fish from the jetties of Karnataka.
As their demands are not heard they have resorted to bar the entry of fish from Goa into Karnataka through mass agitation they said.
A fisherman from Mazali having a fishing craft speaking to this correspondent said that the distance between Mangalore, the last fishing jetty in Karnataka can be covered in about 7 hours therefore there arises no need to add chemicals preservatives. “If our vehicles are not allowed in Goa we will stop vehicles bringing fish to Karnataka from Goa he asserted.
