the goan I network
PANAJI
The National Green Tribunal has kept in abeyance its order directing the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority to deposit an amount of Rs 1-crore with the Central Pollution Control Board for failing to comply with its orders directing the demolition of illegal structures in beaches that host turtle nesting sites.
The GCZMA filed a review petition before the NGT and this time sent the Advocate General Dattaprasad Lawande to argue its case and told the Tribunal that “part of the order be kept under suspension until the next date when all directions issued by order dated 02.11.2017 shall be complied with.”
“In due deference to the Advocate General, the order for payment of compensation stands suspended until the next date when the GCZMA shall file a report in due compliance of the directions contained in order dated 02.11.2017,” the NGT said.
Earlier, the GCZMA prayed for review of the order of the NGT saying that its advocate incorrectly told the court that the matter was being examined by the GCZMA when in fact the GCZMA had already taken a decision regarding the demolitions in its meeting at the end of April.
On May 1, the NGT pulled up the GCZMA for non compliance.
“We find that it (the compliance report) is severely wanting in compliance of the directions issued. It is found to be nebulous and bereft of material particulars [and]… demonstrates gross non-compliance,” the NGT bench of justices S P Wangdi, K Ramakrishnan and Dr Nagin Nanda observed.
The tribunal, had, in February this year asked the Goa State Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA), which enforces the CRZ regulations, to take action against temporary structures constructed along the beaches of Morjim, Mandrem in North Goa and Galgibaga and Agonda in South Goa which exist without permission from the GCZMA.
“This, in our view, is a sorry state of affairs. Considering the gross non-compliance of the directions calls for strict orders to be passed against the concerned. For its failure, the GCZMA shall deposit an interim environment compensation of Rs 1 crore to be deposited with the Central Pollution Control Board within a period of 1 week,” the tribunal ruled.
The NGT noted how several beach side establishments had constructed offending structures on turtle nesting sites “destroying sand dunes and sand vegetation since October, 2013.”
“Commercial activities have been started without permission of the GCZMA. The GCZMA is not performing its duty as a regulatory body to remedy the illegalities,” the NGT noted.
Meanwhile in a separate
case filed by the Goa Foundation, the National Green Tribunal has asked the Ministry of Environment and Forests to submit a report about the status of compliance of the orders directing it to finalise the eco-sensitive zone notification in the Western Ghats within one month.
The Goa Foundation pointed out that the notification of eco-sensitive zones in the Western Ghats has not been finalised though the Tribunal directed that the matter be finalised within six months.
