NGT asks GCZMA to reply over inaction
PANAJI
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has asked the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) to explain why it has not acted on a show cause notice it had issued to one Diago Constancio D’Souza a resident of Tiracol for building a hotel resort and bar and restaurant without any permissions whatsoever.
The GCZMA had issued a notice to D’Souza on November 2 this year that his construction was in violation of the CRZ notification 2011, as it was within the No Development Zone of the CRZ and that the construction is highly detrimental to the coastal riverine ecosystem.
The GCZMA notice also asked D'Souza to stop work and to show cause why a direction to demolish the structures and to restore the land to its original condition should not be issued.
The time period expired on November 16, and D’Souza failed to respond to the notice and the GCZMA failed to take further action, forcing the complainant Savio Rodrigues to approach the National Green Tribunal to act in the matter.
“The GCZMA failed to act despite me following up the issue with them on a regular basis. I was forced to approach the NGT which heard our case on December 14, and has asked the GCZMA to file a reply,” Rodrigues told The Goan.
According to Rodrigues, Diago D’Souza has no permissions either from the village panchayat or the pollution board or the GCZMA and yet the work continued unabated.
The complaint will bring to the fore the issues of land ownership in Tiracol village with claims of a section of the villagers that the entire land is tenanted agricultural land and mundkar houses being put to the test with the commercial developed by one from the village itself.
