Congress petitions CM for probe into CZMP fiasco

Power Minister Nilesh Cabral, who also holds the environment portfolio, met with Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar who was in Goa in connection with arrangements for IFFI this year, and submitted a memorandum voicing concerns regarding the erroneous coastal zone management plan (CZMP) drafts.
Cabral said on Sunday that Javadekar will look into the concerns, adding that he has explained to him the apprehensions on the draft plan, mostly regarding HTL and the State's unique Khazan lands.
Javdekar will hold a meeting at the National Coastal Zone Management Authority where officials of Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) and the Chennai-based National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) will be called, Cabral added.
The State government recently cancelled public hearings it had scheduled on the CZMPs of the two districts after environmental NGOs, civil society, Communidades and several legislators raised objections to glaring errors in the drafts.
The decision was taken after legislators including ruling MLAs vociferously pointed out major discrepancies in the draft at the power-point presentation held for them. Public hearings scheduled for July 7 were postponed till the new draft is prepared.
The Anjuna-Caisua Biodiversity Management Committee chairman, Michael D’Souza had also called for transparency while forming the new Coastal Zone Management Plan for Goa, saying the State government should engage Goa University (GU) or National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) while forming the plan.
The Congress, meanwhile, has petitioned Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to probe the reasons behind the fiasco over preparation of the Coastal Zone Management Plans (CZMP) for the two districts of Goa which was outsourced to Chennai-based National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM).
In a memorandum submitted to Sawant's office, the Congress media department head, Trajano D'Mello, said the Chennai agency was issued the work order in 2016 with a six-month timeline for completion and a payment of over Rs one crore.
He also said in the memorandum that the Chennai agency did nothing to prepare the plans despite having got the work order from Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority over three years ago and finalised the drafts hurriedly and haphazardly due to pressure following a National Green Tribunal (NGT) judgement which fixed an August 2019 deadline for the exercise.