New Delhi: The Centre today said it is not
able to vouch whether it is safe to eat fish in Mumbai after
the August seven oil spill in Mumbai coast.
"I cannot give a point-blank answer to a point-blank
question that whether it is safe to eat fish. Of course, it is
safe to eat fish in Mumbai as long as it is not caught from
the polluted area," Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said in
the Rajya Sabha today.
He was asked by Bharatkumar Raut (Shiv Sena) whether it
was safe to eat fish in Mumbai today.
"Should fishermen sell the fish or not? When I go to the
market, there are rumours. What do I do?", Raut asked.
To this, Ramesh said he was not a fish-eater. "I would
not be able to testify to the safety of the fish that is being
caught."
He said there has been a substantial impact on fish
population in and around the area. "The fish population in
many parts has been decimated; it has been damaged."
However, fish has now started coming into Mumbai from
other parts of the country, like Andhra Pradesh, he said.
-PTI
