PANAJI
While on one hand the work on the much delayed Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) 2019 is moving at a snail’s pace with the May 2024 deadline approaching, the Goa government has now found discrepancies in CZMP 2011, which is currently in force and wants to re-visit the plan.
It took almost seven years from 2016, for the State to complete, finalise and notify CZMP based on CRZ 2011 notification in November 2022.
On the other hand, Goa is the only State that is yet to kick-start full-fledged work on CZMP 2019 -- the deadline for which lapsed on October 31, 2023 -- following which Centre has refused to grant permissions for any project based on CRZ 2011 notification. The State has sought time till May 2024 to complete the plan.
When contacted, Environment Minister Alex Sequeira has said that CZMP 2011 is going to be the base for CZMP 2019 and hence corrections, as far as high tide lines are concerned, is necessary.
The Minister said that the State will write to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) seeking permission to re-look into the 2011 plan and make the changes.
“The CZMP 2011 plan is currently in force and we are in the process of finalising CZMP 2019. When we were undertaking the work, we found few discrepancies vis-a-vis the CZMP 2011. The discrepancies are small in nature pertaining to high tide line and dimensions of the plots. But this needs to be corrected. There won’t be any major changes,” Sequeira said.
According to the sources, in the CZMP 2019, the CRZ 2019 provisions will be incorporated wherein the CRZ extent will be 0-500 meters from the high tide line (HTL) of the landward side of the seafront and 0-100 meters from the tidal-influenced water bodies like river and this will be no development zone.
Currently, as per 2011 plan, the NDZ is restricted from 0-200 meters from HTL. “The new provisions will come into force automatically,” sources said adding finalization of CZMP 2019 is crucial to bring in force the new regulations.
The State has appointed Kerala-based National Centre for Earth Science Studies (NCESS) to draft CZMP 2019 and the agency has sought time till May 31, 2024 to complete the entire exercise, including public consultation.
