PANAJI
Pending approval to the updated Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) 2011 based on 1:4,000 scales, the Thrivananthpuram-based National Centre for Earth Science Studies (NCESS) is set to submit the draft CZMP based on 2019 notification to the State government, next week. The draft plan is based on a 1:25,000 scale.
Speaking to The Goan, Director Dept of Environment Johnson Fernandes confirmed that the agency has informed that the draft CZMP 2019 will be submitted next week.
“It will be a draft plan, which will be kept open for public suggestions and inputs,” he said, adding that the public inputs would be incorporated in the final plan.
Meanwhile, Fernandes said that the updated CZMP 2011 on 1:4,000 scale is currently under scrutiny of the National Coastal Zone Management Authority (NCZMA).
In September, the State forwarded the updated CZMP 2011 based on the 1:4,000 scale to NCZMA and MoEF&CC for approval and notification. The CZMP 2011, based on the 1:25,000 scale, was notified on September 6, 2022. The Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had approached the Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change (moEF&CC) to expedite the approval to plan for completion of CZMP 2019.
Notifying CZMP 2011 under the 1:4,000 scale is a crucial step ahead of drafting a new plan based on CRZ notification 2019.
Sources informed that the CZMP 2019 would be updated on the 1:4,000 scale once the CZMP 2011 is approved by NCZMA. “We will hold a public hearing on the draft plan before finalizing it,” sources said.
After facing wrath from the National Green Tribunal (NGT) for missing out several deadlines, the State had assured the green bench to complete the plan by January 2025.
State has already missed out the October 31, 2023 deadline set by NCZMA. State had later sought time till May 31, 2024 to complete the plan however, it failed to meet that too.
There has been a delay of almost five years since the CRZ notification 2019 was notified -- the Rules and Regulations of which are currently not applicable to Goa in the absence of the plan.
