Clarion call for people to come out and make their voices heard on Sunday
MARGAO
The public hearings for the Coastal Zone Management Plans scheduled on Sunday appear to be heading for a showdown with the district authorities capping the number of participants at the hearings at Kala Academy and Ravindra Bhavan, Margao.
While the district authorities have resolved to allow only registered participants/speakers to enter the venue or attend the virtual hearings on the production of valid ID proof/valid e-mail ID, the Citizens for Coastal Communities, the umbrella organization fighting for proper CZMPs since 2019, have given a call to the people of Goa to come in numbers and attend the Public Hearings on March 7 from 10 am at the Ravindra Bhavan, Margao, and Kala Academy, Panaji.
The district administration is believed to have written to the South Goa district police chief to make elaborate law and order arrangements in and around the Ravindra Bhavan, Margao, on Sunday for the hearing.
The call given by the citizens and NGOs assumes significance as it comes against the backdrop of the decision taken by the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) to cap the number of participants at the public hearings to 150.
Terming the public hearings on the CZMPs a farce, Xavier Fernandes (Convenor) and Raju Bhomkar (co-convenor) said in a statement that the CZMPs are not for the people as the notification has envisaged, but are made illegally for corporations and other short-term profit-seekers to take over the State’s rivers and coasts. The duo made a fervent plea to every Goan to get their voice heard by participating in these hearings if the balance has to tilt in the favour of Goa and the people.
“Every Goan has got the right to attend the hearing because every person shares and depends on these common resources. The whole of Goa is ecologically sensitive, especially its vast coastal stretches. Not only the seaside villages, but also those on the banks of major rivers are affected. Even the CRZ Notification 2011 has special provisions for Goa’s khazans, fisherfolk and beaches on account of the peculiar topography of the State,” the statement added.
They pointed out that the CZMP maps sent by the Goa Government to the panchayats are completely against the CRZ Notification. “Goan rivers have the highest biodiversity and are rich in fisheries, shellfish, flora and fauna. The ancient scientific knowledge to bundh the sea and create rivers and khazans for the unique and highly productive rice cultivation and pisciculture has sustained all of us. However, the CZMPs do not show many of the fishing rights, breeding areas and also ecologically sensitive areas,” the statement pointed out.
They added: Both our beaches and river banks are shown as if all our local communities have vanished. Though the CZMPs are only supposed to map the local communities and environment, Port Limits has been illegally demarcated in our rivers, handing these and entire khazan lands and lands beyond on a platter to the port authorities for the use of corporations.”
