Threatens to award project in North
MARGAO, JULY 16
Accusing a group of boat owners of sabotaging the fish meal plant proposed at the Cutbona jetty, Fisheries Minister Joaquim Alemao has served a 15-day deadline on boat owners operating from Cutbona to either give their consent for the plant or threatened to award the project in North Goa.
At one point, a visibly perturbed Fisheries Minister said he would not care who is behind the opposition, adding “let the people come out on the roads”.
Suspecting that a group of trawler owners having interest in a fish meal plant at Karwar are instigating the people to oppose the project, Alemao reminded the trawler owners that the government would not lose anything if the project does not take shape. “The boat owners will benefit as they can send the fish to the plant instead of dumping it in the river. The plant can also take care of road accidents due to water spillage,” Alemao said.
The Fisheries Minister said he did not want to blame the people for the opposition when vested interests objecting to the fish meal plant. “If all the boat owners and their groups from Cutbona do not come to me within the next 15 days and ask for the fish meal plant, I will dump the project or take the same to North Goa,” he asserted.
Saying that the government had made available a host of facilities for the boat owners at Cutbona, Alemao said the government would soon take up extension of the fishing jetty by another 100 meters. “The government has increased the kerosene subsidy from Rs 12,000 to Rs 18,000. The diesel subsidy has also gone up”, he told the boat owners, while distributing the safety system kit to the boat owners belonging to the Cutbona and Mandovi Associations.
