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PANAJI

Health Minister Vishwajit Rane on Tuesday said the government is working on modalities for extending  relaxation to smalltime fishermen who  operate within 60 km from the Goa borders.

Addressing media persons, the minister said the state government has been working on modalities to allow import of the fish caught by smalltime fishermen  from  Karnataka and Maharashtra, who operate  within 60 km from the Goa borders.

“We will have to  lift  the ban only after putting all quality checks in place. The persons who catch  fish in  canoes within 60 km from  the Goa borders might be given relief. We are working on the mechanism for the relaxation. We don’t want traders to take advantage of the relaxation and illegally bring in fish,” the minister said.

Rane also said the state government is working to ensure that the quality testing modalities are in place at the earliest.

“I have moved a note to the health secretary seeking a status report on setting up of the state-of-the-art laboratory for testing fish and other food items. Recently, Agriculture Minister Vijai Sardesai  inspected the proposed site  for the proposed laboratory,” he added.