the goan I network
PANAJI
The fishing community has upped the ante against the proposed Nauxim marina project, the public hearing for which is now less than a month away.
The Goenchea Ramponkarancho Ekvott (GRE) along with four other affected fishermen’s organizations from Vasco, including Old Cross Fishing Canoe Owners Co-operative Society (Baina), Ramponkar, Fishing Canoe Owners Society and Desteirro Fishermen Association, submitted its objections in writing to the North Goa Collector R Menaka IAS on Thursday.
The organisations have demanded the cancellation of the announced public hearing for the project on November 2 and have requested a fresh Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) in accordance with the EIA notification 2006.
The members of these organisations maintained that the entire draft EIA is prepared without the Goa Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP).
GRE General Secretary Olencio Simoes also slammed the Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) in the memorandum for allegedly leasing out one lakh square meter of a water-spread area in Cacra (Nauxim) to M/s Kargwal Constructions Private limited to build India’s first biggest Nauxim Marina consisting of 239 berths.
“The same was done without any prior permission from the local administration, he alleged and added, “The MPT is behaving like an independent state.”
This area in Nauxim-Cacra has the capacity to accommodate yachts with a length of 50 meters. To facilitate this, the GRE fears that the dredging for the berths and channel will be conducted on more than 3,00,000 square meters of land. “Such a mega project will completely destroy the entire bay of Nauxim beach at Cacra Village,” Simoes
stated.
The GRE has demanded that the collector book the consultant for suppressing facts and preparing the draft EIA without the approved CZMP from the State and the Centre.
The organisations have pointed out that the CRZ notification 2011 is meant to restrict development in coastal areas.
The members pointed out that several reports of the National Institute of Oceanography(NIO) and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Old Goa, stated that the entire Zuari estuary, in which Nauxim bay is situated, is rich in marine Biodiversity, consisting of more than 186 aquatic species and other coastal ecosystems.
“All these have to be demarcated in the CZMP but the project proponents may try to suppress the facts in the draft EIA. If this is done then traditional fishermen right from Velsao to Miramar will lose their livelihoods and will be displaced. We demand that the collector and the authority concerned to cancel the public hearing,” Simoes said.
