MARGAO
A special meeting of the Assolna village Panchayat has rejected the authority of the MPT over river Sal and its adjoining areas and said a firm no to the setting up of a port at Betul.
The meeting called for the re-drafting of the eco-sensitive village buffer zone and mangroves and has demanded cancellation of the public hearing scheduled at the Ravindra Bhavan, Margao, on March 8.
The meeting chaired by Sarpanch Xavier Almeida expressed utter surprise as none of the suggestions proposed by the panchayat has been incorporated in the new draft plan proposed by GCZMA for Assolna Village.
The village panchayat through its appointed committee had prepared a CZMP plan based on the inputs from the fishing community, experienced senior citizens and all stake holders and after undertaking site inspection the same was approved by the gram sabha.
During discussions, the village committee members pointed out that the new map proposed by the GCZMA has shown new legends such as 100 mtrs line, hazard line and few roads which have been wrongly marked.
They further pointed out that religious structures such as the Regina Martyrum Church Assolna, two cemeteries and a crematorium, St Peter festival celebratory locations, fishermen’s houses and huts, fishing stakes, besides fish ramps, which were mentioned in the earlier plan, were also found missing.
Sarpanch Xavier Almeida has dashed off a letter to the GCZMA pointing out that the villagers are very conscious about the preservation of water bodies and fragile ecosystems (shellfish breeding and fish breeding areas which have not been mentioned in the new plan) of the village.
“We had prepared a detailed CZMP after undertaking site inspection of our village. We cannot understand why CZMP prepared by us in detail has been ignored,” the sarpanch wondered.
