VASCO
The Chicalim panchayat has requested authorities to remove St Jacinto Island from the port limits.
The panchayat took the decision after several villagers, upset with the CZMP plan, approached the Chicalim panchayat and met Sarpanch Seby Pereira to raise their objections and express concerns that the island was shown in port limits.
Pereira later convened a panchayat meeting and passed a resolution raising objections on the CZMP and demanded that authorities remove the island and other private land from the port limits.
A resident, Darrel D’Souza, said people had raised the issue in the panchayat and claimed that St Jacinto had not been shown in the CZMP in 2019.
“We residents had drafted a CZMP for the village and the panchayat had sent it for approval. However, nothing happened and the old plan is come and now we have sent a revised plan to the CZMP authorities,” said D’Souza.
Chicalim Sarpanch Seby Pereira said the villagers had prepared their own CZMP and it was submitted after getting it passed in a gram sabha.
“In fact, Chicalim was the first panchayat to submit a people’s CZMP to authorities. However, St Jacinto Island is now shown in port limits and old houses in the Island where fishermen have been staying for hundreds of years and some private land in Chicalim have been shown in port limits.”
“We have now convened a panchayat meeting and passed a resolution stating our objections that things shown in port limits is wrong and needs to be corrected,” said Pereira.
