MAPUSA
The villagers of Siolim, Benaulim and Poinguinim joined the chorus against opposition to the jetty policy and on Sunday unanimously rejected and demanded withdrawal of the draft Jetty Policy 2022.
According to the villagers, any policy related to rivers and khazans must be initiated by or in consultation with the local communities “ tenants associations, comunidades, fisher folks, farmers etc.
They also said that the draft jetty policy was restricted only to the tourism department website while no copies were sent to the village panchayats or municipalities. Further the copy was made available only in English while the local languages were ignored.
The locals further said that the jetties management committee which has neither the knowledge nor the necessary experience is arbitrarily empowered to carry out carrying capacity studies of rivers.
“The draft jetty policy is completely against the people of Goa and must be rejected. The policy fails to mention the Sagarmala programme of transporting 137 MTPA of coal through Goa, the National Waterways Act, 2016 and the Major Port Authorities Act, 2021. This policy is a back door entry to usurp our waters and lands for coal corporations to make short term profits, while destroying our environment and future,” locals said in a signed petition to the Director of Tourism.
Objecting to the 15-day period given to submit suggestions and objections to the draft jetty policy, the villagers said 60 days notice was mandatory. They also said that the 500-word limit was arbitrary and in gross violation of fundamental rights of citizens.
“The government is taking decisions as they want without taking the people into confidence. We had rejected construction of jetties during the discussion of the CZMP plan. Now, they want to bring it again through the back door,” said Joaquim Barros, a resident of Siolim.
Siolim-Marna Sarpanch, Sharmila Vernekar and most of the panchayat members were present for the special gram sabha.
The Benaulim gram sabha also discussed the Jetty Policy 2022 and lodged its objection due to the policy not available in local language, local stake holders not taken into consideration, no role of Panchayat in decision making or lack of revenue to the local bodies.
In Poinguinim, a local said, the time frame given for filling objections to the Jetty policy is very short, the government should take the people into confidence.
