MARGAO: Benaulikars on Friday set in motion the process to prepare a draft Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) for the village by involving various stakeholders, including the traditional fishermen, farmers, fishing communities, toddy tappers, beach shack owners and the villagers.
With the help of the coastal communities represented by activists Abhijit Prabhudesai and Wenzy Viegas, the villagers went about the job of showing the sluice gates (mush), the fishermen’s huts and communities, the community canoe and fishing boat ramps, etc.
They also showed the location of the traditional fishing activities, aqua culture (manshios), besides sand dunes, paddy fields spread across the village. Water bodies, including the traditional gayres, which found no mention in the draft-plan, will be shown in the draft village plan.
A villager Rudolf Barretto informed that beginning from Saturday, the team consisting of the stakeholders and the students of Chowgule College, Margao will undertake a field trip of the village for three days to the ground reality. “After gathering all the inputs from the stakeholders as well as from the field trip to the nook and corner of the village, a report will be compiled which will then be placed before the special gram sabha to be conveyed next week,” Rudolf said.
At the last meeting of the villagers held in July, Benaulim villagers carried out a thorough review of the proposed CZMP for the village prepared by NCSCM. It is found that the proposed plan prepared by NCSCM has failed to demarcate important coastal features both natural and man-made. It is noted that the location of high tide line has been wrongly extended into aquaculture ponds and paddy fields. The fishing wards have been shown outside the CRZ area.
