the goan I network
MARGAO
In an interesting development, the tentative date set for the public hearings on the Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) for both North and South Goa in the first week of November now stands postponed.
Reason. The Department of Environment is presently awaiting the Chennai-based agency National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) to send a draft Coastal Zone Management Plan to the state before drawing the tentative dates for the public hearings.
In fact, Director of Environment Johnson Fernandes told The Goan on Wednesday that once the draft-CZMP is received by the government, the plan will be kept in public domain for a period of one month before finalizing the dates for the public hearings.
“It’s true that the department had fixed tentative dates for the public hearings in North and South Goa in the first week of November. However, the intervening circumstances have forced the department to postpone the tentative dates for the public hearing,” he said.
Elaborating further, Johnson informed that since Goa went a step ahead of other states by submitting a host of suggestions on the draft CZMP, all these suggestions were forwarded to the
Chennai-based agency to effect necessary changes in the draft with recommendations from the department.
Till date, however, the Environment Director maintained that the draft CZMP has not been received from NCSCM, adding that further process will be set in motion after the same is received by the department.
He informed that once the draft CZMP is received from the Chennai-based agency, the same will be kept in public domain for the people to have a glance and suggest changes at the public hearings.
Asked whether the draft plan will be discussed at the gram sabhas during the one-month period, Johnson said it is for the local bodies to take a call how to go about the job.
