Report by our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Panaji (SP)
 
Panaji, Jan 23: Mormugao Port Trust (MPT), one of the major ports in the country, has decided to shut down the fishing jetty located within its jurisdiction, claiming it to be a major security threat to the international vessels anchoring here.
 
The move however, has irked the local fishermen, who have sought state government's intervention in the matter. The local legislator, Jose Philip De Souza, who is  a revenue minister in Digamber Kamat-led cabinet, has termed the port's move as unwarranted.
 
"Khariwado fishing jetty at Vasco Beach and Bay, almost within an arm's length from Berth No 11 of Mormugao Port Trust is a major security threat to vital port installations as well as the international and Indian merchant ships calling at Mormugao harbour.  Its existence has all along been a matter of serious concern for the port authorities and the union government," MPT chairman Praveen Agarwal said. .
 
He said that the recent Mumbai terrorist attacks have exposed the relatively ineffective and weak security net along the long Indian Coastline.  Some of the vulnerable landing points used by terrorists, smugglers, subversive elements and similar anti-national elements are the fishing boat landing points at various locations throughout the 6,500 kms coast of the country, he claimed.
               
"Captains of the visiting international merchant ships have repeatedly expressed serious concerns on the prevailing grave insecurity due to the operation of a large number of fishing trawlers and boats at touching distance from their ships, even when they are at berth," he said.
 
The MPT chairman said that there have been innumerable instances of thefts and pilferages from MPT premises due to the existence of the fishing jetty and the Kharewado slum contiguous to MPT's operational areas.
 
"Instances of the Pakistani seamen employed on international merchant ships being ferried by the Kharewado fishing trawlers and boats to the shore have been frequently reported, even though this has been expressly prohibited as per the laws of the land," he added.
 
The trust has said, that with the coming into force of the International Ships and Ports Facility Code (ISPS) from 2004 onwards, MPT runs the risk of losing its traffic of merchant ships due to the very existence of the Khariwado fishing jetty within Vasco Bay.
 
"The ISPS Code is a mandatory legal provision, necessarily to be complied with by ports where international merchant ships call. If the international shipping community finds MPT to be non-compliant with the ISPS Code, international merchant ships will stop calling at this port altogether.  This would be a national disaster and major blow to the trade and commerce of Goa in particular, and to the economy of the nation in general," he explained.
 
The fishermen, however, refuse to buy the MPT's arguments. "We have entered into a memorandum of understanding with MPT in 1989. They will have to give us alternate jetty, if we are forced to shift," De Souza, who is a revenue minister and also fishermen's leader, said.
 
He felt, that the MPT was trying to take advantage of the terror prone situation in the country to evict traditional fishermen.