the goan I network
PANAJI
Goans against Coastal Regulation Zone Draft Notifications 2018 (GACRZ) on Wednesday handed over a memorandum to Ravi Jha, Member Secretary of the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA), asking the GCZMA to reject the draft CRZ notification 2018 and fulfil all 5 demands of GACRZ within 10 days.
The GACRZ delegation included Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Chandrakant Kavlekar, AAP Secretary for Goa Pradeep Padgaonkar, President of the Goencho Rapponkarancho Ekvott Olencio Simoes, and members of various NGOs across the state.
GACRZ wants the Draft CRZ Notification 2018 to be scrapped in toto as it violates Section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 which states that the Central Government shall “… take all such measures that it deems to be necessary or expedient for the purpose of protecting and improving the quality of the environment and preventing, controlling and abating environmental pollution”.
The second demand of GACRZ is that the limit of 200 meters and 100 meters No Development Zone (NDZ), and 500 meters CRZ should stay the same, and the proposal to reduce it to 50 meters and 30 meters be withdrawn.
Next, the activists want the CRZ 2011 Notification to be converted into a comprehensive CRZ Act in consultation with the small and traditional communities of Goa.
GACRZ wants the GCZMA to withdraw all three amendments to the CRZ 2011 Notification done through S.O 3197 (E) dated July 2, 2018.
Their fifth demand is that the complete Coastal Zone Management Plans (CZMPs) should be as per the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order.
The NGT order dated 22 November 2017 asked the state to prepare the Coastal Zone Management Plans (CZMPs) under the CRZ 2011.
When asked about the government’s nod to the CRZ Draft 2018 Notification, Jha insisted that the draft notification was exactly, as the name suggested, a draft.
Furthermore, he stated that he had forwarded the views sent to him by various public groups, both in favour of, and against the Draft CRZ Notification to the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF) that had issued the draft notification.
“The GCZMA will look into the issue and will make a decision after consulting the people of Goa,” said Jha.
