PANAJI
In a major setback to the State government which will also have widespread consequences for Goa and its people, the National Coastal Zone Management Authority (NCZMA) on Tuesday declined the State government's plea for deletion of port limits from the Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP).
The NCZMA had met in New Delhi to consider approval of CZMP 2011 for Goa and the State government was represented by a delegation led by Environment Secretary Arun Kumar Mishra.
Officials from the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) also attended the meeting online in the State.
Sources told The Goan that NCZMA was not inclined to accept the State government's plea for deletion of port limits from the CZMP despite forceful arguments by Mishra.
In another major decision, the issue of verification of 46.06 lakh square metres of additional sand dunes identified by GCZMA experts was not considered by NCZMA. The State government's proposal to incorporate limits to coal handling in the CZMP also did not find favour with the NCZMA.
Only with respect to depiction of structures, the NCZMA asked the State government to submit details of structures to be depicted on the maps.
The recommendations of the NCZMA will now be forwarded to the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MoEFCC), for notification of the Goa CZMP, which is likely to materialise by mid-March.
When contacted, Environment Secretary Arun Kumar Mishra admitted that the NCZMA meeting took place in New Delhi on Monday, but said: “it will not be proper to divulge what was discussed in the meeting unless the minutes of the meeting are out.”
GCZMA Member Secretary Dasharath Redkar said Goa had put forth all its recommendations, including the deletion of port limits from the CZMP.
“I can only provide information on this meeting once the minutes of the meeting are finalised and made public,” said Redkar.
Environment Minister Nilesh Cabral told The Goan that the NCZMA meeting on Tuesday was held at the secretary level and State officials had attended the meeting online from Goa.
“However, I do not have any information about the outcome of the meeting,” said Cabral.
Cabral, last year, had sought for extension of a month to finalise the coastal plan and then had asked for another three months.
Officials had also been pressurized to complete at the earliest the work of verification and ground truthing based on objections and suggestions received on the plan.
GCZMA VIEWS
It may be recalled that the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM), Chennai, in its report on the draft CZMP for Goa, had retained the “port limits” which had been rejected unanimously by the GCZMA and the public.
The GCZMA had later convened a special meeting on December 27, 2021 to deliberate on the report and maps submitted by the NCSCM pertaining to Goa’s draft CZMP 2011.
The GCZMA had reiterated its decision to reject the retention of “port limits” and later submitted its views to the NCZMA ahead of the December 31 deadline stipulated by the National Green Tribunal.
