MARGAO
After last week‘s inspection of the sand dune destruction site at Benaulim by officials of the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA), the sand dune was inspected again on Monday, this time by officials of the State Bio-Diversity Board and the GCZMA.
Officials of both the authorities confirmed that the sand dune has been tampered with and the loose sand threatening to block a water way, but Benaulim villagers may have a question or two for the officials “ when would the authorities book the violator and get the sand dune restored at the cost of the violators?
A lady official of the State Bio-Diversity Board told the media that she would compile the report of the inspection and forwarded the same to the higher ups for necessary action. “The sand dune has been destroyed. The loose sand has almost touched the water body. I have noted the ground reality and the report will go to the Member Secretary of the Bio Diversity Board”, she said.
Benaulim Bio-diversity Management Committee Chairperson Charles D’Silva who accompanied the GCZMA and State Biodiversity Board officials to the site along with the local MLA Venzy Viegas and Panchayat members, said the time has come for all the bio-diversity management committees along the coastal belt to adopt a resolution and send the same to the panchayat body to impose a condition in the permissions granted for erection of structures that they should not tamper with the sand dunes on the beach.
“Given the bitter experience at Benaulim, I think the time has come for the panchayat bodies to impose a condition while granting permissions for erection on structures that sand dunes should not be tampered with by the parties”, Charles said.
The Benaulim MLA said the Benaulim Panchayat will have to now issue a stop work order to the owner of the parties given that officials of the agencies have now conformed that the sand dune has been destroyed.
Claiming that the owner of the property has allegedly admitted that the sand dune has been tampered with, Venzy said the law should take its own course by penalizing the violators and getting the sand dune restored at their cost.
Saying that that the state has no sand dune restoration management plan in place, the Benaulim MLA said efforts are underway to get local expertise to restore the sand dune, which can then be implemented in other parts of the state.
