Only registered speakers to be allowed entry at venue or virtual hearing, speech capped at 5 minutes
MARGAO
The Sunday hearing on the controversial Coastal Zone Management Plans may turn out to be hearings with a difference.
For, the entire hearing exercise is sought to be conducted in a restricted manner, right from the entry at the venue, the time-limit for the speech and even the nature of the speech will come under the scanner of the authorities at the hearings.
As per the SOPs put in place by the district Collector, South, only registered participants/ speakers would be allowed to enter the venue or attend Virtual Hearing on production of valid ID proof/ valid e-mail ID. The SOPs imply that the police may restrict the entry of the people right at the entrance gates to the Ravindra Bhavan, Margao.
A glance at the SOPs show that the participants will be allowed to speak within a fixed time limit, with the authorities capping the speech to five minutes.
A time keeper will keep a track of the time taken by every speaker. A warning bell will ring after four (4) and the final bell after five minutes.
That’s not all. The speeches of participants shall also be strictly restricted only to the matter in question and shall not contain any political or personal criticism or any nature which will not be permitted.
Moreover, the participants are mandated to strictly restrict their suggestion/ objections to the matter in question and shall refrain from making long speeches. Further, the suggestions/ objections already raised, by the previous speaker shall be avoided, the SOP states.
Interestingly, the SOP states that in case the speakers are less, the hearing will conclude as soon as the last speaker has spoken and will not continue thereafter.
The speakers shall be allowed to speak in the allotted time slot. In case, the speaker is not available at the particular slot when his/her name is announced then he/she will not be allowed to express his/her view thereafter when his time slot is missed.
Around 13 objections have been filed before the South Goa district authorities to the CZMPs unveiled by the government, while as many as three speakers have got themselves registered for the hearings at the Ravindra Bhavan, Margao on Sunday.
It could not be ascertained as to how many participants from South Goa have got themselves registered with the authorities for Sunday’s hearing at the Ravindra Bhavan, Margao.
Officials said that the participants can register themselves with the district authorities till 5 pm on Saturday after which they will get a message whether their application has been accepted or not.
