The NationalGreen Tribunal’s order to the Goa administration to re-conduct the publichearings for finalization of the draft Coastal Zone Management Plan comes as aslap on the face of authorities who were defiant and wanted to bulldoze throughsuch a sensitive and crucial exercise. The NGT has seen that the very spirit ofthe March 7 public hearing was violated when a venue change was effected andseveral restrictions imposed that curtailed freedom of expression.
If we mayrecall, high drama prevailed at both venues -- Kala Academy, Panaji andRavindra Bhavan, Margao, people were denied their right to speak and only ahandful were allowed participation. There were thousands of people leftoutside, in what finally turned out to be more of a “private meeting".
The NGTmaintains that the salutary mandate of a public hearing has to be followed inletter and spirit. In this regard, the government has to genuinely encouragethe participation of people so that ambiguities and errors could be set right.The change in venue and restricting public participation only goes to highlightthe devious intentions behind hurrying through the process.
The scriptwas no different in July 2019 when Environment Minister Nilesh Cabral was booedand mocked at a public hearing with people demanding that the entire draft planbe scrapped outright due to the glaring errors by the Chennai-based NationalCentre for Sustainable Coastal Management, a central government body that wasentrusted with the exercise.
The veryintentions behind this exercise are suspicious because a conscious effort isnot being made to hearing voices. We have reached a sorry state that the greentribunal had to give broad guidelines on how to go about the hearings. The NGTsaid: Representations of all sections of affected people may be ensured withoutrendering the situation unviable. If necessary, the public hearings may becontinued for more than a day, but we do not fix any particular number of days.The idea is that it is a reasonable opportunity for all concerned sections.
The peopleof Goa should be active players in this discourse and the government mustensure that there is engagement. A motley crowd of 150 to 200 cannot be a fairrepresentation of coastal Goa, absolutely not. This is not acceptable even in aCovid situation when there are options on holding these hearings in a staggeredmanner. Even the excuse of ‘running short of time’ is not admissible againstthe fact that in the interim when the Covid situation eased off briefly,elections and other events have been held.
So, where isthe problem now? The NGT has told the State that hearings can be continued formore than a day and that all sections should get an opportunity to place theirgrievances on record. We hope better sense will prevail and hearings will beheld transparently and in all fairness. The public hearing has to be heldwithin the framework of the law.
