The High Court declining to stay the public hearing of the draft Goa Coastal Zone Management Plan scheduled for March 7 means all roadblocks are now cleared. But, what is surprising is that authorities are in the process of putting tighter systems and protocols in place restricting the entry of participants at the hearing and capping the time allocated to every individual.
The Additional District Collector, South disclosed that the administration has decided to come out with a schedule as well as an SOP for the hearing, which will allow entry to only registered participants to raise their queries, and that too with a time-slot of 5 minutes each. It is learnt that the Ravindra Bhavan hall which will host the hearing will run at half its capacity allowing only 500 participants at a given time.
Ironically, the government which has relaxed protocols to accommodate tourists have only shown an extraordinary zeal to enforce discipline at CZMP hearings. We see a mockery of rules when it comes to tourists and other election-related campaigns. Even at this time when there are fears of another Covid wave with neighbouring States like Maharashtra and Karnataka reporting virus spikes forcing them to tighten border entry points, the Goa government continues to show leniency by refusing to adopt the negative test report protocol while only urging tourists to exercise discipline.
Coastal Goa is on the boil with gram sabhas and most of the panchayats finding serious inconsistencies in the draft plan. Local bodies have found that their proposals and suggestions which have been earlier acknowledged are not reflecting in the draft. The arrangements at the CZMP hearings suggest that the government is trying to cover failures of the draft and not the lives of people. Despite massive opposition to single-day hearings, the government has shot down pleas for constituency-wise or village-wise sessions. Putting a cap on participants and the time-slot will defeat the purpose of this very important exercise which threatens to bring in radical changes to the coastal landscape.
The High Court observation on the hearing does not in any way imply that decks are cleared on the terms and conditions put forth by the State administration. Questions have remained unanswered. Why is the State environment ministry bulldozing through the hearings by literally stifling the voices of aggrieved citizens? Why are ordinary citizens not allowed their fundamental right of expression? If this exercise is towards making a document that will redefine the coastal boundaries, why can’t there be an exhaustive hearing where all concerns and fears are addressed?
There are major anomalies in the draft, and citizens across the State have raised a red flag. In the extra-ordinary gram sabha meeting at Carmona on Wednesday, people raised questions over a jetty being shown when there was no such plan for one. Villagers claim sluice gates, mangroves and fields are misrepresented. The State Environment Minister is still to clarify the implication of 'ports limit' in the plan. With the government unrelenting, the coastal plan hearing of March 7 is headed for another showdown between villagers and government machinery.
