the goan I network
CANACONA
In yet ano3ther jolt to the Chennai-based company drafted CZMP plan, Agonda outrightly rejected it, drafting their own plan and bringing in a sea-of-change in the village eco-system.
The special gram sabha on Sunday passed a unanimous resolution re-drafting the eco-sensitive village buffer-zone, mangroves, relocating the turtle nesting sites, besides demarcating each of the coastal structures (including places of worships) to authenticate the panchayat prepared CZMP plan.
“We had already rejected the government sent Chennai-based company prepared CZMP plan, and the panchayat utilizing a drone camera captured images and ground realities and prepared the CZMP plan afresh,” Agonda village sarpanch Abel Borges announced at the beginning of the special gram sabha held on Sunday.
The sarpanch then kept both the plans, the government draft plan as well as the one drafted by the locals open for scrutiny, and sought suggestions on buffer zone, mangroves and turtle nesting site and also requested to pinpoint any mistakes in demarcating structures.
The sarpanch also called for called upon the members to decide whether the water body passing almost parallel to the village shore should be earmarked as ‘river’ or ‘rivulet’ and went on to explain the pros and cons of either term.
A river means buffer-zone of 50 m will be No-Development-Zone (NDZ), while a rivulet would mean a buffer zone of 15 m NDZ, the Sarpanch informed.
Most members, fearing the coastal residents would be doomed if the water body is marked as ‘river’ as on one side there was the sea and on the other the water body, raised their hands almost in unison to earmark the river as a ‘rivulet’, claiming that it was less than 10m in width.
The sarpanch also drew attention to the fact that the draft CZMP showed mangroves in private property. Members resolved not to show mangroves in private properties of the village at all.
There was heavy discussion on the village shore earmarked as turtle nesting site, as locals claimed the turtle nesting was hampering village development. They instead suggested relocating the turtle nesting site to the stretch of 50 metres each on north and south of the 2.9 km Agonda shore.
The special gram sabha also resolved not to earmark the ‘parking lots’ earmarked at Divanbhag and Behind the Cross at Igrejwada and also agreed not to have road access except for a 3 metre width pathway to the beach behind the cross at Igrejwada.
Besides, sarpanch and Secretary Sushant Lolienkar, panchas Pramod Phaldessai, Tipu Pagui, Barsat Naikgaunkar, Shilpa Pagui and Badal Naikgaunkar were present while Godwin Fernandes, Daya Pagui, Shekar Pagui, Hendrick Fernandes, Eginue Fernandes, Caitano Fernandes were amongst the several others who took part in the discussion in one of the largely attended gram sabhas after the sarpanch asked non-residents or non-voters of Agonda not to sign the register nor take part in discussion.
