Fishing Business in Goa Cannot Function Without Migrants

Regardless of what we say about the migrants in Goa but it is the fact that many things cannot be moved without the existence of Migrants in the state. The major labor jobs in the state are carried out by the migrants and the development of infrastructure will stop if the Migrants are removed from Goa.

In one of the recent case, Churchill Alemao has mentioned in the house that Fishing business in Goa will get severely get affected without the Migrants. Another MLA from St. Andre told the media that nearly 10 thousand migrants workers from Bihar will be landing in Goa soon to work on various trawlers in Goa.      

The trainloads of migrants arriving in the State have upset the Goans to such an extent, that the issue keeps cropping up in the Assembly.

A week back MLA Rohan Khaunte warned the Chief Minister of a high influx of migrant laborers in the State and the need to keep a tab on them.

St. Andre MLA, Francisco Silveira, along with Benaulim MLA, Churchill Alemao though are singing a different tune. Both of them have requested Chief Minister Pramod Sawant not to stop migrants arriving in Goa ahead of the fishing season.

Silveira told the House that nearly 10000 workers from Bihar and Jharkhand would be landing in Goa soon to work on various trawlers, as the fishing season is set to commence from August 1.

Silveira stated that these workers are brought in by the trawler operators and if the Government stopped them from entering, the entire fishing industry would be paralyzed.

In the last few years, Goa’s dependency on labour from other States has increased manifold, what with the scarcity of local laborers and the unwillingness of locals to do menial jobs.

He said, “Police can conduct verifications, but they should not be restrained or else they will not come to Goa and trawlers will not be able to operate.

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Alemao was on the same page with Silveira and said: “The fishing business will be shut completely if there are no migrant laborers.”

Alemao further added that the government can do their verification and check regarding where they have come from and to verify on which trawler they will be working on and at which jetty.

One cannot deny that Goa is dependent on these workers for their daily fish and hope that the Government does what is right when it comes to these laborers.

Source: TOI | Heraldo