PANAJI
Joining the long list of activist groups that have raised their objections to the draft CRZ notification, Goa Forward too wrote to the government at the Centre raising their disapproval.
Stating that if the proposed laws come into force, these “will literally open the door for the wholesale destruction of the coastal stretches,” Director of Goa Foundation, Dr Claude Alvares, said while objecting to the proposed minimal stretch of only 50 meters from the high tide line (HTL) as a protected zone. In the letter, Alvares stated that the draft notification put forth by the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MoEF&CC) showed an “obvious intent of promoting private business against the demands of sustainable development and ecological protection.”
“Goa Foundation feels that considering the fact that in places like Goa, shacks, huts and other temporary structures are already crowding the beaches, it will only be a matter of time before the entire coastal area is allowed to be developed, especially if the ministry goes ahead with its proposed notification. The Goa Foundation, therefore, protests the idea of this notification and demands that it be permanently shelved or shelved till better sense prevails,” the NGO said in
its letter.
The organisation also objected to the way in which the notification was issued by bypassing routine procedures. They pointed out that this specific draft was not notified first in the official gazette of the Government of India as was done in all cases to alert the public to proposed changes in the law.
The Foundation feels that there is something fishy about the sudden desire of the ministry to drastically modify the CRZ notification barely 8 years old (the 2011 notification came 20 years after the 1991 notification), and made one wonder if there was pressure from the real estate lobby and hoteliers to allow development in prohibited coastal stretches.
The Foundation, therefore, asserted that in the interest of transparency the ministry should show documents supporting the basis on which it has engaged in this exercise and make these available on the government website as well (This is a requirement under the provisions of the
RTI Act).
