PANAJI
Finally, Goa’s Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) based on the 2011 CRZ notification was notified by the Centre on Tuesday (September 6) but some of the contentious issues, including that of vast swathes of sand dunes going unmapped are expected to linger for some more time.
The CZMP approved by the National Coastal Zone Management Authority (NCZMA) and later notified by the MoEF&CC is the one prepared with maps of scale 1:25,000. The Central authority, however, has given the State government leeway to now approve local maps of 1:4,000 scale separately.
In effect, the NCZMA has entrusted to the State government the powers to notify local maps prepared on the 1:4,000 scale at its own level and Environment Minister Nilesh Cabral said, all the contentious issues of demarcating missing sand dunes, fishing wards, turtle nesting sites among others can now be rectified locally.
“In so far as the issue of local level maps, prepared on a scale of 1:4,000 was concerned, State government could consider approving it at their own level, if found necessary, as per the extent provisions of CRZ Notification, 2011,” the NCZMA recorded in the minutes of its September 1 meeting.
The NCZMA meeting minutes also recorded the contention of the Goa Environment Secretary Arun Kumar Mishra, that: “Re-verification of demarcation of sand dunes, demarcation of bays, issue related to fishing wards shall be taken up separately by the State Government.”
Cabral assured that the contentious issues raised during the public hearings and by expert members of the GCZMA will now be covered with the State government approving fresh local maps.
Apart from the missing sand dunes, non-demarcation of turtle-nesting sites, fishing wards and bays were the other contentious issues flagged by expert members of the GCZMA regarding the final CZMP.
While the NCSCM had identified 29.35 lakh square metres of sand dunes, the GCZMA expert committee mapped 75.42 lakh sq mtrs, a massive anomaly of 46.06 lakh sq mtrs of sand dunes.
The resurvey was done as a fallout of a petition in the National Green Tribunal (NGT) which had accused GCZMA of granting development permissions on sand dunes and the latter admitting that it did not have sand dunes mapped in Goa.
The GCZMA appointed its own expert committee after questions were raised over the sand dunes mapped by NCSCM at the CZMP public hearings held in North and South Goa.
The GCZMA expert committee which conducted intensive ground-truthing exercise in 28 coastal villages and towns verified additional sand dunes to the extent of 46-odd lakh square metres more than the ones mapped by NCSCM.
CZMP-2019 can be done in a yr: Cabral
PANAJI: Environment Minister Nilesh Cabral said, the State government will now work in right earnest on timely completion of the new Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) based on the 2019 CRZ Notification.
Cabral said the experience of preparing the CZMP-11 will be put to best use to avoid the pitfalls and make sure the 2019 CZMP is completed on time.
“I expect that the exercise of drawing the CZMP-2019, if systematically carried out can be completed in one year’s time,” Cabral said.
The State government has already commenced the process of selecting the agency which will help prepare the maps and put together the CZMP-2019.
