PANAJI
The fishing community has slammed the National Coastal Zone Management Authority (NCZMA) for ignoring demands of the public and Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) and retaining the port limits in the Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) and warned that the members of the community would be forced to come on the streets.
They have claimed that the retention of port limits by the NCZMA would create a lot of problems for the fishing community in the State.
The recently passed Major Port Authorities Act 2021 grants sweeping powers to the Mormugao Port Authority to carry out construction and development activities on such areas which have been delineated as “port limits”.
Considering that a major port authority supersedes even the Town and Country Planning department of a state vis-a-vis construction and development laws, retention of such “port limits” could eventually pose a major threat to the livelihood of the fishing community across Goa’s coastline wherever such areas have been earmarked.
Goa Fishing Boat Owners Association (GFBOA) President Jose Philip D’Souza said the government should have thought of fishermen who will now suffer in their daily activities, as they will have to seek permission form the port authority even to venture into the sea. This cannot be tolerated, he asserted.
“It is a big issue and we have to resolve it by protesting against the decision. The government is going ahead without considering the locals who live on this land. While taking such a major decision of handing over the total authority of the coastline to MPA, the fishermen community should have been taken into confidence. This is dictatorship,” said D’Souza.
When asked for the way out, D’Souza said people should come together to object to the port limits. “I really don’t know how to go ahead, but I feel the fishing community across the State should come together and fight this issue. I am meeting with stakeholders and other communities in Goa and we will soon come out with our stand,” D’Souza added.
Goenchea Raponkarancho Ekvott (GRE) President Agnelo Rodrigues said the State government had first sold the six rivers in Goa and now wants to sell the entire 105-km coastline.
“The GRE demanded that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant put up a strong case to push forward to the GCZMA request to insist that the NCZMA delete the port limits and should also add 46.06 lakhs sq. meters of sand dunes, failing which the fishing community of Goa will be forced to come on streets,” warned Rodrigues.
GRE General Secretary Olencio Simoes further lambasted the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) for playing with the lives and sentiments of the people of Goa.
“Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav should immediately intervene to save Goa. The CRZ notification had given special consideration considering the peculiar circumstances of Goa, to ensure livelihood security to the fishing community,” he recalled.
“But unfortunately, the NCZMA has rejected the request of the GCZMA which had prepared the draft CZMP and had demanded the deletion of ports limits, while also seeking the inclusion of 46.06 lakhs square meters of sand dunes,” said Simoes.
Roy Barretto, a leader of the community and social activist from Cavellosim-Mobor, feared that fishing communities would lose their traditional rights in the seas and rivers of Goa.
“First of all, the NCSCM had not followed the guidelines while preparing the CZMP. In fact, the CRZ Notification 2011 is really good for coastal communities but the State government has done nothing to implement it.”
“The CRZ Notification is a small branch of the Environment Protection Act 1986 and the CZMP is a plan to show eco-sensitive areas and to conserve and protect such areas and not to include port limits to destroy the environment,” said Barretto.
