The hall was reserved for the seafood exports to the European countries, they added. Sources said MFD officials had sent many notices to the Karachi Fisheries Harbour Authority (KFHA) for inspection of the K-1 hall but KFHA did not take the MFD's notices seriously to implement the EU recommendations on the harbour, including K-1 hall.
They said the MFD was a competent authority of the EU here to inspect the whole harbour and implement the EU recommendations. They said the MFD gave a month's time to the KFHA for strictly implementing the EU rules but the authority did not follow its instructions. MFD officials found a lot of irregularities due to which it had suspended operational work of seafood exports from the K-1 hall.
They said there was no standard operating system in the K-1 hall, entire jetty, channel and at boats. The MFD's inspection team found a lot of irregularities like wash basins were not cleaned; shrimps and fish were being washed at the floor. The people were smoking and eating pan in the EU corridor. Besides, they said, entry in the K-1 hall is restricted to selected people and this rule was also being violated. They further said the fish should be brought only from the MFD's approved fishing boats in the K-1 hall.
Sources said the EU had tried many times to impose a complete ban on the Pakistani seafood due to unhygienic conditions but the MFD had given some guarantees due to which the union did not take any action. The MFD had given the EU some suggestions, including construction of a new auction hall like K-1. They said the K-1 hall was constructed on the recommendations of the EU but today the Sindh fisheries department, Karachi Fisheries Harbour Authority (KFHA) and the Fishermen's Co-operative Society (FCS) were not implementing the EU recommendations.