the goan I network
MARGAO
Claiming discrepancies and shortfalls in the Goa Coastal Zone Management Plan, city-based NGO United Goans Foundation has demanded the scrapping of the plan
and the cancellation of the plan till a new draft CZMP is prepared.
Saying that the CZMP draft document has been shoddily prepared, the Foundation has further demanded that the CZMP should include a plan for the management of Goa’s coast for the next 25 years, further demanding that the CZMP should include measures of forestation and beach rejuvenation including measures to remove existing sea walls.
“The draft must be prepared after conducting meetings in each village and collecting suggestions and data from locals. The maps in the CZMP must include survey boundaries so that the areas can be easily identified,” United Goans Foundation secretary Avinash Tavares told the government.
Tavares further pointed out that the notification for public hearing dated 6/6/2019, does not make a mention of Margao Municipal Council in the list of municipalities in which the maps are made available to the public. “Margao Municipality has strangely been omitted from the list. Interestingly, in the annexure (maps) the part of the river Sal that flows through Margao is not shown. This part of the river is influenced by the tides. In fact, the ward next to the river in Margao city is called “Kareband” where Kare means salty. Therefore it is clear that the study done of the river Sal is inadequate,” he added.
He further claimed that the maps that have been annexed with the report do not show the survey plan/boundaries/numbers. “Without this information, it is nearly impossible to identify which property falls within the CRZ. The people of the fishing community do not have the skills to identify the locations of their houses on the maps. Therefore there is a need to demarcate survey boundaries on the maps,” he added.
Saying there are 66 villages in the North and 54 villages in the South along with a dozen municipalities, Tavares said, “If each village body representatives take around 10 minutes to speak at the hearing, this means that the hearing will go on for around 10 hours. In additions, there are NGOs, activists, commercial entities, local stakeholders, etc who will need an opportunity to speak. Therefore one day will be grossly inadequate for the hearing at both the districts. Furthermore, since the hearings in the North and South Goa are held on the same day, this denies the opportunity for people to put forth their suggestions/objections in both the districts.”
