PANAJI
Condemning the act of NCZMA for rejecting the plea of deleting the port limits in the Goa Coastal Zone Management Plan (GCZMA), Congress on Wednesday charged that despite knowing that the port limits has the potential to usurp the powers of the State and local bodies, BJP government failed to protect Goa. “It is the conspiracy of BJP to sell Goa to crony capitalists,” Congress leaders said.
Congress spokesperson Olencio Simoes along with Chairman of Professional Congress Elvis Gomes, Chairman of Research Department Avinash Tavares, and Capt Viriato Fernandes, Orville Dourado, Jason Silveira, Ramiro Mascarenhas and Siddharth Karapurkar on Wednesday addressed a press conference in Panaji and condemned the act of the BJP government, stated a press release.
Simoes said that Congress condemns the rejection of port limits and of not including sand dunes in CZMP, the release added.
“Why is only Goa under the port limit,” he questioned and added that BJP is trying to make the Sagarmala project a reality by destroying the environment.
“Goa has a beautiful coastline only because of sand dunes. No other State has such sand dunes. Our livelihood and tourism depend on the coastal line. But BJP is trying to destroy everything,” Simoes said.
He said that Goans have been demanding that the port limits be deleted from the CZMP because there is no provision in the CRZ Notification 2011 for showing the same.
Elvis Gomes said the State government will have no authority over the coastal area. “BJP has bulldozed the rights of State. Now people residing and doing business in the coastal areas will have to seek NOCs from Mormugao Port Authority," he said.
Elvis Gomes promised to give justice to the people after the Congress government is formed. "Areas near ferry ramps in Panaji are also occupied. In this situation, how would the rescue operation be done if a ferry gets drifted during bad weather conditions?" he questioned, pointing out how the BJP government has sold Goa to crony capitalists.
Capt Viriato Fernandes said that BJP is hatching a conspiracy to finish the coastline of Goa. “We will fight until we get justice. BJP has become slaves of crony capitalists and bring coal in Goa,” he said.
