The coastal violations will now be under the wings of districts collectors. The chief minister Manohar Parrikar has played this by the book. Going by Coastal Regulation Zone Notification 2011, he has bifurcated the environment department and CRZ-implementing authority from the works and has set up two committees under the leadership of the North and South Goa collectors. All complaints pertaining to CRZ violations will now be handled by these two committees.
Effectively it means that the Centrally-appointed body of Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority has been divested of its powers. What remains to be seen is how effectively this arrangement helps in settling the growing pile of cases. According to figures presented in the previous assembly session, there were 908 complaints out of which 41 were disposed of, while 270 cases remained pending and in 597 cases action was in progress.
While GCZMA had been on the job, the government has virtually snatched control from the centrally-appointed body attributing it to the growing backlog of cases.
With the job entrusted to department officers headed by respective collectors, the government has not only empowered itself to crack the whip on coastal violations, but also opened up new vistas for politicos in power. Effectively, the GCZMA has been reduced to a forwarding authority entrusted with the job of sending complaints to the district committees. Besides this, it's job would be to issue licences and permissions.
The district level committee is required to direct Mamlatdars in their jurisdiction to conduct necessary inquiry into alleged violations. The committees will then take necessary action and accordingly submit the final report to the GCZMA for record. If the logic is to ease off work of the GCZMA, this move doesn't sound convincing either. For the Mamlatdar, this would mean adding on to the huge backlog of his files as he handles land cases including mundkarial cases, tenancy cases, mutation cases besides administrative matters. For the Mamlatdar to do justice to his new assignment, he will have to be relieved of some of his duties. The government will have to appointment separate officers to handle mundkarial, mutation and tenancy cases.
The district level committees headed by the respective collectors also has a deputy collector, member from Land Survey and PWD Executive Engineer, Town Planner, Dy Conservator of Forest and members from the fishing community. However, there is no neutral independent expert. The notification says that services of an expert will be availed on case to case basis.
It would have made the system much simpler if the panchayat bodies were involved in the process. Panchayats have historically refused to be drawn into CRZ violations even though the Panchayati Raj act empowers them to crack the whip. With the district committees notified, it's a wait and watch situation for now.
Effectively it means that the Centrally-appointed body of Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority has been divested of its powers. What remains to be seen is how effectively this arrangement helps in settling the growing pile of cases. According to figures presented in the previous assembly session, there were 908 complaints out of which 41 were disposed of, while 270 cases remained pending and in 597 cases action was in progress.
While GCZMA had been on the job, the government has virtually snatched control from the centrally-appointed body attributing it to the growing backlog of cases.
With the job entrusted to department officers headed by respective collectors, the government has not only empowered itself to crack the whip on coastal violations, but also opened up new vistas for politicos in power. Effectively, the GCZMA has been reduced to a forwarding authority entrusted with the job of sending complaints to the district committees. Besides this, it's job would be to issue licences and permissions.
The district level committee is required to direct Mamlatdars in their jurisdiction to conduct necessary inquiry into alleged violations. The committees will then take necessary action and accordingly submit the final report to the GCZMA for record. If the logic is to ease off work of the GCZMA, this move doesn't sound convincing either. For the Mamlatdar, this would mean adding on to the huge backlog of his files as he handles land cases including mundkarial cases, tenancy cases, mutation cases besides administrative matters. For the Mamlatdar to do justice to his new assignment, he will have to be relieved of some of his duties. The government will have to appointment separate officers to handle mundkarial, mutation and tenancy cases.
The district level committees headed by the respective collectors also has a deputy collector, member from Land Survey and PWD Executive Engineer, Town Planner, Dy Conservator of Forest and members from the fishing community. However, there is no neutral independent expert. The notification says that services of an expert will be availed on case to case basis.
It would have made the system much simpler if the panchayat bodies were involved in the process. Panchayats have historically refused to be drawn into CRZ violations even though the Panchayati Raj act empowers them to crack the whip. With the district committees notified, it's a wait and watch situation for now.
