PANAJI
The Chicalim Village Action Committee (CVAC) on Wednesday has demanded that the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) take immediate steps to undo the illegalities by a private ship-builder in the Chicalim bay after it recently won a protracted legal battle in the NGT and the Supreme Court of India.
"We expect the GCZMA to show the same urgency it did to demolish the shack in Anjuna (Curlies) in the case of the illegal construction and reclamation in Zuari river by Abhishek Engineers in the Chicalim Bay," said Rui Costa Araujo, the secretary of CVAC.
Araujo along with CVAC president, Cyril Fernandes and other members were addressing a press conference in the capital city after winning their protracted legal battle in the courts since 2016.
Abhishek Engineers had challenged the 2016 GCZMA order before the NGT. The latter in August this year dismissed the company's petition and upheld the GCZMA order but the matter was again challenged before the Supreme Court.
The Apex Court refrained from interfering with either the GCZMA order of 2016 or the NGT order passed in August this year dismissing the plea of Abhishek Engineers.
As per the GCZMA order, the reclamation of nearly 3,900 square metres of the river by Abhishek Engineers was held illegal.
The GCZMA also directed that it be undone and the river bed be restored to its original condition.
Fernandes said, since the restoration is ecologically crucial, the GCZMA had asked the Captain of Ports (CoP) to execute the restoration of the river bed in consultation with the Goa State Biodiversity Board at the cost of the violator (Abhishek Engineers).
South Goa Collector has also been tasked with the responsibility to ensure that the order is implemented.
Both Fernandes and Araujo, demanded that since the matter has run the legal course and the country's highest judicial court -- The Supreme Court of India -- has upheld the order, there is no reason for delay in implementing the order.
The GCZMA and the government should display the same sense of urgency it did in demolishing the shack in Anjuna recently and restore the mud flat at the Chicalim bay at the earliest, they added.
