the goan I network
MAPUSA:
Labeling the draft Goa Coastal Zone Management Plan (GCZMP) as incomplete and inadequate, the Anjuna-Caisua gram sabha was unanimous in demanding that public hearing on the draft plan be postponed and proper details of the draft plan be submitted to villagers.
A social activist of Candolim, Roshan Mathias informed that the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) had provided only maps and not a plan for the public to deliberate.
He further said that the map too was incomplete as it did not have all the details.
“The GCZMA maps are not in compliance with CRZ 2011 notification. The draft plan is not available in local languages. There has been no consultation with local communities as required under the CRZ 2011,” Mathias said while explaining about the draft plan to the members of the gram sabha.
The Anjuna-Caisua pancahyat had organized a special gram sabha on Sunday to deliberate on the draft coastal zone management plan for Goa.
Picking holes in the draft plan, Mathias said neither coastal information system was made available nor hazard line was shown on the maps. “There is no demarcation of water bodies into bays, creeks, estuaries etc. Fishing zones, fish breeding areas and fishing wards haven’t been shown,” he said stressing that the village of Caisua was mainly dominated by the indigenous fishing community.
He further said neither the authority nor the BDO have technical expertise to guide the local bodies or to explain the maps to locals.
Inviting suggestions and objections on the GCZMP, the GCZMA had called for public hearing on the draft plan at Taleigao Community Hall, Caranzalem in North Goa and Ravindra Bhavan, Fatorda in South Goa on July 7 from 10 am to 7 pm.
Rejecting the draft plan, the chairman of the bio-diversity committee in Anjuna panchayat, Michael D’Souza said the authority should come clean and place all the details before the public.
“What the GCZMA has submitted to the village is not a plan but only a map. And the map is also incomplete and very difficult for a common man to understand,” D’Souza said and called for postponement of the public hearing.
Concurring with the locals, Anjuna Sarpanch, Savio Almeida said the authority has failed to provide all details about the draft plan.
He further said that not many were technically savvy to understand the contours of maps provided by the authority.
The GCZMP for the entire coastal stretch of Goa was prepared by National Centre for Sustainable Costal Management (NCSCM), Chennai which is the authorized agency approved by the government of India.
