MARGAO
The non-stop Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) public hearing for South Goa at the SGDPA parking lot came to a grinding halt for well around an hour after following a stand-off between the participants and the officials over a lunch break.
The participants stood their ground for well around an hour, throwing the non-stop hearing haywire.
South Goa district Collector, Ruchika Katyal, IAs tried to pacify and persuade a speaker, by offering chocolate and a water bottle, with a plea to speak, but there were hardly any takers, with the speakers insisting on a lunch break.
Officials finally yielded to the request by giving half an hour lunch break at around 3.15 pm as the stalemate threatened to snowball into a major controversy and law and order issue.
While the participants questioned the GCZMA and district authorities for making them fend for themselves during the non-stop public hearing, by not allowing them to even carry water bottles insides, matters came to a head around 2.25 pm when the participants insisted on a 15 minute or half an hour lunch break.
A speaker Alvito D’Cosa, who came on the podium when his turn came to speak for 15 minutes, refused to proceed, insisting that the Collector give the people a half an hour lunch break.
Other participants strongly backed Alvito’s claim, pointing out that the officials conducting the proceedings were having their lunch in turns, questioning the authorities for not even giving a lunch break, leaving no provision for food for them. Activist Abhijit Prabhudesai was heard saying the people would not have mind paying if some food arrangement was put in place for them.
It was only when speaker Alvito D’Costa took to the podium that the absence of food and lunch break took the centre stage. Alvito refused to proceed with his speech, saying he is not in a feeling hungry and have no strength left in him to make any submission having made it to the venue as early as 7 am.
The authorities point blank rejected his plea for a lunch break, but voices inside the pandal grew louder and louder in support of Alvito’s demand for a lunch break.
Pleas made by the officials to Alvito to either speak or make way for another speaker fell on deaf ears, with Alvito insisting on a lunch break. Officials, including district Collector, Ruchika, Additional Collectors, Sanjit Rodrigues and Surendra Naik, senior officials Agnelo Fernandes and Mamlatdar Prataprao Gaonkar tried to persuade Alvito, but in vain even as the audience shouted in one voice in favour of a lunch break.
The Collector offered chocolate and water bottle to Alvito even as she made clear that no lunch break has been provided at the North Goa CZMP hearing.
The standoff, however, continued after speaker Constancio Fernandes took to the podium after Alvito made way, insisting on a lunch break.
District police Chief, SP Pankaj Kumar Singh, SDM, Margao Jyoti Kumari and other police officials were inside the pandal, before the district collector gave in to the demands of the participants for a lunch break.
