Porvorim: Activity of illegal fish vending outside the Malim jetty has started again and it has been causing traffic snarls as people make a pit stop near the jetty, parking their vehicles along the main road, which is narrow, to buy fish.
Alleging about the illegal fish vending, former director of Mandovi Fishermen Marketing Co-operative Society Limited Domnic Fernandes said that “such activity has started again, which causes traffic chaos near the jetty stretch.”
The Mandovi fishermen society had requested the sarpanch to take action against the illegal activity as it results in a lot of traffic problems on the main road, besides creating conditions for spread of malaria and dengue.
Speaking to this reporter, Domnic Fernandes along with Inacio Fernandes and Shekhar from Mandovi Fishermen Marketing Co-operative Society Limited informed that the society had made a letter to the sarpanch of Penha de Franca panchayat, Swapnil Chodankar, drawing his attention to the vehicles and stalls that resort to fish sale opposite the Malim jetty gate.
Domnic alleged that someone has set up more than 20 fish stalls illegally in the government property near the jetty.
“Many times traffic congestion is witnessed along the main road due to people halting at the stalls to buy fish, parking their vehicles haphazardly. Apart from this, often, unsold fish is dumped along the road that leads to a nuisance due to the smell that emanates from it,” he added.
“Also due to unseasonal rain, a lot of rainwater has accumulated around the fish stalls, which can lead to outbreak of diseases like malaria and dengue,” he noted.
There are also tempos from other states and within the state that bring fish for sale outside the jetty gate, turning the spot into a mini fish market and often people are seen crowding around the vehicles without maintaining social distancing.
“We had taken immediate action against such illegal fish sellers as it was affecting business of those who are selling fishing inside the gate,” stated sarpanch of Penha de Franca Chodankar.
However, Chodankar said that if illegal fish vending has started again then action will be taken soon and “we have written letters to the Porvorim police urging them to arrest vendors who conduct business of selling fish illegally on the road.”
