MARGAO
The stage is set for the hearing of the controversial Coastal Zone Management Plan (GZMA) at the Ravindra Bhavan, Margao, on Sunday morning.
While the South Goa district authorities and the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) were coordinating with each other, compiling the list of speakers and participants eligible to attend the hearing, village groups were on the ground, holding awareness meetings in some of the villages to mobilize people for the Sunday hearing.
As things stood on Saturday, around 150 speakers and around 13 participants are believed to have got themselves enrolled at the office of the South Goa Collector as well as the office of the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) till 5 pm.
The office of the District Collector was coordinating with the GCZMA officials to find out the number of speakers and participants that have submitted their applications to attend the hearing.
Till late Saturday evening, the two offices were in the process of sending messages to the speakers to attend the Sunday hearing.
The district authorities have already requested the Goa police to make elaborate law and order arrangements in and around the Ravindra Bhavan, Margao, as a precautionary measure.
As per the schedule drawn by the authorities, the CZMP hearing at the Ravindra Bhavan, Margao, will start exactly at 10.30 am, with a 45-minute presentation by the GCZMA officials and experts, followed by speakers, who will be given five-minute time to air their views on the plan.
Sources said the speeches will be filmed as well as the minutes recorded and read at the end of the hearing.
There’s isn’t any lunch break during the hearing and the entire process will come to and till the last speaker presents his case before the panel.
As already reported, not more than 150 speakers and participants will be allowed at the public hearing at the Ravindra Bhavan, Margao.
Each of the speakers will be given a time-limit of five minutes to make air their views on the plan.
Meanwhile, various village groups were on the ground, spreading awareness on the controversial plan, and requesting the people to attend the public hearing on Sunday.
While the authorities have made it clear that the Ravindra Bhavan auditorium will be open for not more than 150 participants, the coastal communities have given a call to the people to turn up in large numbers for the public hearing on Sunday.
