PANAJI
A group of citizens concerned about coastal regulations on Tuesday demanded that the government take fishing communities into consideration before preparing the
Coastal Zone Management Plans (CZMPs).
Citizens for Coastal Communities (CFCC) held a press conference in the city in response to the notice published by the Department of Environment on July 12 announcing taluka-level presentations starting from Pernem on July 19 and ending in Mormugao on August 8.
CFCC, comprising of Abhijit Prabhudessai, Shrayragi Israni, Diana Tavares, Lia Gomes, Ilma Dias, Ramiro Mascarenhas, Xavier Fernandes and Melwyn Dias, have termed this notice “irregular” and said that it reveals the Department’s ignorance of procedures to be followed.
A strongly-worded press statement issued by CFCC questions how the government can be so blind and anti-people, and anti-environment, after all stakeholders rejected the National
Center for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) proposal.
CFCC questioned how when NCSCM plans had been rejected due to serious fundamental flaws such as grossly incorrect HTLs, failure to demarcate fishing areas and villages, etc, the government was considering holding presentations to explain these utterly flawed plans.
The statement also says that the Environment Minister had, on July 8, admitted that the CZMPs were prepared without essential data from the Department of Fisheries, Directorate of Survey and Land Records, Agriculture and Water Resource Departments, which was the cause for the gross errors in the draft CZMPs. Despite this, going ahead with the presentations was making a mockery of the people and the process of public consultation,” CFCC stated.
The organisation also said that not consulting local residents, communities, panchayats while preparing such plans was a violation of the CRZ Notification 2011, the Constitution, and the UN Declaration on Rights of Indigenous People.
CFCC has strongly demanded the withdrawal of the “highly irregular and mischievous notice dated 12/07/2019”, and that fresh CZMPs be prepared in consultation with the people.
