the goan I network
MARGAO
Villagers of Colva and citizens of the coastal communities on Saturday were shocked to find that nearly 70 per cent of the existing structures dotting the Colva/Sernabatim coast were not shown on the draft Coastal Zone Management Plan.
The discrepancies came to the fore at a meeting of the various stakeholders such as shack owners, hoteliers, fishermen, farmers and coconut property landowners.
The meeting was also attended by village Sarpanch Anthony Fernandes and panch members.
Abhijit Prabhudesai, Wenzy Viegas and college students guided those present at the meeting. They found to their surprise several existing coastal structures were missing and resolved to mark these on the new CZMP prepared with the help of local stakeholders.
Sarpanch Anthony said two teams of college students will descend on the Colva coastline in the next two days to ensure that all the coastal structures and sand dunes find mention in the CZMP. “We have observed that the sand dunes are not shown on the draft plan as per the location. We will get all such details mapped on the revised plan.”
The Colva panchayat had on Friday hired a propaganda vehicle to announce and urge people to come and share their inputs for preparation of the CZMP plan.
The Sarpanch informed that after the inputs are all incorporated, including the ones gathered during the field trip to the coastal belt of Colva and Sernabatim, the report will be placed before the Panchayat Village Development Committee.
Members of Citizens of Coastal Communities Abhijit Prabhudesai and Venzy Viegas assisted in marking the missing structures and redrafting the CZMP maps for Colva village with the help of Chowgule College students.
