PANAJI
Former NIO scientist and former member of Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) Dr Antonio Mascarenhas has warned that the CRZ notification will be totally overruled, thus making the port authority the sole ‘owner’ of the State’s coast.
Dr Mascarenhas was reacting to the National Coastal Zone Management Authority’s (NCZMA) decision on Tuesday to decline the State government’s plea for deletion of port limits from the Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP).
“The alarming part of the Major Port Authorities Act 2021 notes that ‘any development or infrastructure within the port limits and the land appurtenant thereto shall be independent of State Government’, and further ‘the master plan created by the board shall prevail’.”
“The draft CZMP 2021 specifies that large areas along the seafront and within the saline rivers will henceforth come under the jurisdiction of the port authority. From Aguada to Cansaulim, and from Varca to Loliem in the south, the seafront will hereafter ‘belong’ to and be classified as the property of the Mormugao port.”
“The Raj Bhavan, Miramar beach, the slopes of Dona Paula, Cortalim, Sancoale, Chicalim bays would fall under the purview of the port. The Velsao-Cansaulim-Arossim coast, a linear strip of about 50 metres in width over the dune fields, is shown as limits of the port control,” said Dr Mascarenhas.
“It appears that the CRZ notification will be totally overruled, thus making the port authority the sole ‘owner’ of our coast.”
Dr Mascarenhas claimed that while the CRZ 2011 deals with the conservation of coastal systems, the Major Port Authorities Act 2021 is meant to promote maritime trade and commerce.
“An overlap of CRZ laws and the Major Port Authorities Act is evident. The port boundary overshoots the beach and uniformly extends around 50 metres into the dune belt.”
“The clout of port authority would be severe. A coastal dweller is bound to get confused as port limits and CRZ boundaries impinge on each other. If the MPA has its say, the ecological sanctity of coastal ecosystems is at stake,” Dr Mascarenhas added.
