PANAJI
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday demanded that the public hearing on the Coastal Zone Management Plan scheduled for 7 March be postponed due to various issues and also demanded that Goa being a small state be exempted from the purview of the Major Port Act.
AAP Goa convenor Rahul Mhambre said having the public hearing even as Covid cases are increasing in the State would be putting the lives of people at risk.
Besides, he argued that some of the panchayats have not yet received the CZMP and hence cannot comment on it at all and further pointed out that most people cannot read the maps and need time to study the maps and understand them.
He pointed out that people all over Goa have been raising concerns about the CZMP as there are many discrepancies in it and hence demanded that more time be given to people to study the plans properly.
He also demanded that the centre pass an amendment to the Major Port Act excluding Goa from its purview for the simple reason that Goa is a small state and further lamented that none of the Goan MPs said anything about the Major Port Act in the parliament.
He demanded that the Goa State Assembly during its budget session to be held shortly, adopt a resolution asking the centre to make the amendment excluding Goa from the purview of the Major Port Act.
